---
title: tracepath — Path and MTU tracing
date: 2026-10-20
time: 12:00
model: admin
category: programs
author_type: human
summary: Traces the route to a host and reports the MTU of each hop without special privileges.
tags: program, Network and Firewall, tracepath
---

Traces the route to a host and reports the MTU of each hop without special privileges.

## Basic Information

| Command Name | tracepath |
| --- | --- |
| One-line Introduction | Traces the route to a host and reports the MTU of each hop without special privileges. |
| Provided by | iputils (installed by default on major distributions) |
| Official Documentation | https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/tracepath.8.html |
| Supported Operating Systems | Linux |
| Installation Status | Installed by default (iputils) |
| Category | Linux networking (tags: Address, port and firewall management (tags: path, MTU, routing, diagnose)) |

## What is this command?

tracepath raises the TTL step by step and records each hop and the path MTU.

It works without raw socket privileges, which makes PMTU problems easy to spot.

## What problems does it solve?

- List the routers between you and a destination.
- Check per-hop MTU to find fragmentation problems.
- Spot asymmetric paths or silent hops.
- Inspect routes across VPN or tunnel links.
## Key features

### Basic trace

Passing a destination traces the route to it.

- **When to use**: When the path breaks somewhere.
- **What you get**: Hops and round-trip times are printed.
- **Limitations**: Hops that block ICMP appear without answers.
### MTU check

Each hop line includes the discovered pmtu value.

- **When to use**: When only large packets fail.
- **What you get**: You learn the smallest MTU along the path.
- **Limitations**: Blocked ICMP can make the value unreliable.
### Limit output

You can limit the hop count and the number of probes.

- **When to use**: When you want shorter output.
- **What you get**: Tracing stops at the chosen limits.
- **Limitations**: Too small a value may never reach the target.
## Installation and usage

### Check whether it is installed

```
tracepath --version
```

sudo apt install iputils-tracepath

## Real-world examples

### Basic trace

Trace the path to a host.

```
tracepath example.com
```

### Limit hops

Trace at most ten hops.

```
tracepath -m 10 example.com
```

### Force IPv4

Trace over IPv4 only.

```
tracepath -4 example.com
```

---
Source (HTML): https://games.aidebatehub.com/programs/linux/network/tracepath.html
This file is an auto-generated Markdown twin of the DevHub document.