1 This is the README file for ppp-2.4, a package which implements the
2 Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to provide Internet connections over
9 The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) provides a standard way to establish
10 a network connection over a serial link. At present, this package
11 supports IP and the protocols layered above IP, such as TCP and UDP.
12 The Linux port of this package also has support for IPX.
14 This software consists of two parts:
16 - Kernel code, which establishes a network interface and passes
17 packets between the serial port, the kernel networking code and the
18 PPP daemon (pppd). This code is implemented using STREAMS modules on
19 SunOS 4.x and Solaris, and as a line discipline under Linux and FreeBSD.
21 - The PPP daemon (pppd), which negotiates with the peer to establish
22 the link and sets up the ppp network interface. Pppd includes support
23 for authentication, so you can control which other systems may make a
24 PPP connection and what IP addresses they may use.
26 The primary platforms supported by this package are Linux and Solaris.
27 Code for SunOS 4.x is included here but is largely untested. I have
28 code for NeXTStep, FreeBSD, SVR4, Tru64 (Digital Unix), AIX and Ultrix
29 but no active maintainers for these platforms. Code for all of these
30 except AIX is included in the ppp-2.3.11 release.
36 The file SETUP contains general information about setting up your
37 system for using PPP. There is also a README file for each supported
38 system, which contains more specific details for installing PPP on
39 that system. The supported systems, and the corresponding README
44 SunOS 4.x README.sunos4
46 In each case you start by running the ./configure script. This works
47 out which operating system you are using and creates symbolic links to
48 the appropriate makefiles. You then run `make' to compile the
49 user-level code, and (as root) `make install' to install the
50 user-level programs pppd, chat and pppstats.
52 N.B. Since 2.3.0, leaving the permitted IP addresses column of the
53 pap-secrets or chap-secrets file empty means that no addresses are
54 permitted. You need to put a "*" in that column to allow the peer to
55 use any IP address. (This only applies where the peer is
56 authenticating itself to you, of course.)
59 What's new in ppp-2.4.0.
60 ************************
62 * Multilink: this package now allows you to combine multiple serial
63 links into one logical link or `bundle', for increased bandwidth and
64 reduced latency. This is currently only supported under the
65 Linux-2.3.99pre5 or later kernels.
67 * All the pppd processes running on a system now write information
68 into a common database. I used the `tdb' code from samba for this.
70 * New hooks have been added.
72 For a list of the changes made during the 2.3 series releases of this
73 package, see the Changes-2.3 file.
79 This package supports two packet compression methods: Deflate and
80 BSD-Compress. Other compression methods which are in common use
81 include Predictor, LZS, and MPPC. These methods are not supported for
82 two reasons - they are patent-encumbered, and they cause some packets
83 to expand slightly, which pppd doesn't currently allow for.
84 BSD-Compress is also patent-encumbered (its inclusion in this package
85 can be considered a historical anomaly :-) but it doesn't ever expand
86 packets. Neither does Deflate, which uses the same algorithm as gzip.
92 The BSD-Compress algorithm used for packet compression is the same as
93 that used in the Unix "compress" command. It is apparently covered by
94 U.S. patents 4,814,746 (owned by IBM) and 4,558,302 (owned by Unisys),
95 and corresponding patents in various other countries (but not
96 Australia). If this is of concern, you can build the package without
97 including BSD-Compress. To do this, edit net/ppp-comp.h to change the
98 definition of DO_BSD_COMPRESS to 0. The bsd-comp.c files are then no
99 longer needed, so the references to bsd-comp.o may optionally be
100 removed from the Makefiles.
106 The comp.protocols.ppp newsgroup is a useful place to get help if you
107 have trouble getting your ppp connections to work. Please do not send
108 me questions of the form "please help me get connected to my ISP" -
109 I'm sorry, but I simply do not have the time to answer all the
110 questions like this that I get.
112 If you find bugs in this package, please report them to the maintainer
113 for the port for the operating system you are using:
115 Linux Paul Mackerras <paulus@linuxcare.com>
116 Solaris 2 Adi Masputra <adi.masputra@sun.com>
117 SunOS 4.x Adi Masputra <adi.masputra@sun.com>
123 All of the code can be freely used and redistributed. The individual
124 source files each have their own copyright and permission notice; some
125 have a BSD-style notice and some are under the GPL.
131 The primary site for releases of this software is:
133 ftp://linuxcare.com.au/pub/ppp/
136 ($Id: README,v 1.23 2000/04/13 11:59:40 paulus Exp $)