Windows vs Linux — platform differences

SubnetSlinger is one app across platforms, but a handful of things are handled the way each operating system does them best. This is the quick reference; the details are in the other "Running on Linux" articles.

At a glance:

• Saved-secret encryption — Windows: DPAPI (tied to your Windows account). Linux: AES-256-GCM under a key held in the system keyring (libsecret/GNOME Keyring), or Vault-derived if no keyring is present — no plaintext key file. (macOS is a separate native app and uses the Keychain.)
• Where data lives — Windows: %APPDATA%\SubnetSlinger (inside the app package for the Store install) and Documents\SubnetSlinger. Linux: ~/.config/SubnetSlinger (XDG) and ~/Documents/SubnetSlinger. Back up both.
• ARP cache — Windows: the arp table. Linux: read directly from /proc/net/arp (no external command needed).
• Ping / raw sockets — Windows: works without special setup. Linux: runs unprivileged and uses the system ping program (no capability needed). See "Ping without root."
• Local interface & socket detail — richest on Linux (/proc + /sys); on Windows it uses the standard network APIs. Same tools, slightly deeper data on Linux.
• Packet capture — the Capture tool runs on both: one cross-platform engine (SharpPcap) that uses Npcap on Windows and libpcap on Linux. On Linux you need libpcap present (Ubuntu ships it) and a one-time capability grant on the capture helper, installed root-owned in /usr/local/lib/subnetslinger (cap_net_raw + cap_net_admin via sudo ./install-linux.sh) — the GUI itself stays unprivileged.

Good to know: this list is mostly about plumbing. The feature differences: the CLI wrappers (nmap, dig, curl, openssl …) ship on Linux only, while binding the Vault to the device (DPAPI) and the Local servers' "Add firewall rules" panel are Windows only. Where a difference could surprise you (a saved secret that won't move between machines, a ping that needs a capability), the relevant article calls it out. And because Linux setups vary so widely, treat these as the defaults, not a guarantee for every distro and kernel.