1 This is the README file for ppp-2.3, 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, Solaris 2.x, System V Release 4, and OSF/1, and as a
20 line discipline under Ultrix, NextStep, NetBSD, FreeBSD, and Linux.
22 - The PPP daemon (pppd), which negotiates with the peer to establish
23 the link and sets up the ppp network interface. Pppd includes support
24 for authentication, so you can control which other systems may make a
25 PPP connection and what IP addresses they may use.
31 The file SETUP contains general information about setting up your
32 system for using PPP. There is also a README file for each supported
33 system, which contains more specific details for installing PPP on
34 that system. The supported systems, and the corresponding README
39 Digital Unix (OSF/1) README.osf
40 NetBSD, FreeBSD README.bsd
42 SunOS 4.x README.sunos4
43 System V Release 4 README.svr4
44 Ultrix 4.x README.ultrix
46 In fact, only the Linux and Solaris 2 ports have been tested in this
47 release. Code for the other systems is still included; if you use it,
48 let me know how it works. If I don't hear from anyone it will
49 probably get dropped in a subsequent release. AIX 4 is no longer
50 supported, since I don't have a maintainer for the AIX 4 port. If you
51 want to volunteer, contact me.
53 In each case you start by running the ./configure script. This works
54 out which operating system you are using and creates symbolic links to
55 the appropriate makefiles. You then run `make' to compile the
56 user-level code, and (as root) `make install' to install the
57 user-level programs pppd, chat and pppstats.
59 The procedures for installing the kernel code vary from system to
60 system. On some systems, the kernel code can be loaded into a running
61 kernel using a `modload' facility. On others, the kernel image has to
62 be recompiled and the system rebooted. See the README.* files for
65 N.B. Since 2.3.0, leaving the permitted IP addresses column of the
66 pap-secrets or chap-secrets file empty means that no addresses are
67 permitted. You need to put a "*" in that column to allow the peer to
68 use any IP address. (This only applies where the peer is
69 authenticating itself to you, of course.)
72 What's new in ppp-2.3.8.
73 ************************
75 * The exit status of pppd will now indicate whether the link was
76 successfully established, or if not, what error was encountered.
78 * Pppd has two new options: fdlog <n> will send log messages to file
79 descriptor <n> instead of standard output, and nofdlog will stop log
80 messages from being sent to any file descriptor (they will still be
81 sent to syslog). Pppd now will not send log messages to a file
82 descriptor if the serial port is open on that file descriptor.
84 * Pppd sets an environment variable called PPPLOGNAME for scripts that
85 it runs, indicating the login name of the user who invoked pppd.
87 * Pppd sets environment variables CONNECT_TIME, BYTES_SENT and
88 BYTES_RCVD for the ip-down and auth-down scripts indicating the
89 statistics for the connection just terminated. (CONNECT_TIME is in
92 * If the user has the serial device open on standard input and
93 specifies a symbolic link to the serial device on the command line,
94 pppd will detect this and behave correctly (i.e. not detach from its
95 controlling terminal). Furthermore, if the serial port is open for
96 reading and writing on standard input, pppd will assume that it is
97 locked by its invoker and not lock it itself.
99 * Chat now has a feature where if a string to be sent begins with an
100 at sign (@), the rest of the string is taken as the name of a file
101 (regular file or named pipe), and the actual string to send is taken
104 * Support for FreeBSD-2.2.8 and 3.0 has been added, thanks to Paul
107 * The Tru64 (aka Digital Unix aka OSF/1) port has been updated.
109 * The system panics on Solaris SMP systems related to PPP connections
110 being established and terminated should no longer occur.
112 * Fixed quite a few bugs.
115 What was new in ppp-2.3.7.
116 **************************
118 * Pppd can now automatically allocate itself a pseudo-tty to use as
119 the serial device. This has made three new options possible:
121 - `pty script' will run `script' with its standard input and output
122 connected to the master side of the pty. For example:
123 pppd pty 'ssh -t server.my.net pppd'
124 is a basic command for setting up a PPP link (tunnel) over ssh.
125 (In practice you may need to specify other options such as IP
128 - `notty' tells pppd to communicate over its standard input and
129 output, which do not have to be a terminal device.
131 - `record filename' tells pppd to record all of the characters sent
132 and received over the serial device to a file called `filename'.
133 The data is recorded in a tagged format with timestamps, which can
134 be printed in a readable form with the pppdump program, which is
135 included in this distribution.
137 * Pppd now logs the connect time and number of bytes sent and received
138 (at the level of the serial device) when the connection is
141 * If you use the updetach or nodetach option, pppd will print its
142 messages to standard output as well as logging them with syslog
143 (provided of course pppd isn't using its standard input or output as
146 * There is a new `privgroup groupname' option (a privileged option).
147 If the user running pppd is in group `groupname', s/he can use
148 privileged options without restriction.
150 * There is a new `receive-all' option, which causes pppd to accept all
151 control characters, even the ones that the peer should be escaping
152 (i.e. the receive asyncmap is 0). This is useful with some buggy
155 * The default asyncmap is now 0.
157 * There is a new `sync' option, currently only implemented under
158 Linux, which allows pppd to run on synchronous HDLC devices.
160 * If a value for the device name or for the connect, disconnect,
161 welcome or pty option is given in a privileged option file
162 (i.e. /etc/ppp/options or a file loaded with the `call' option), it
163 cannot be overridden by a non-privileged user.
165 * Many bugs have been fixed, notably:
166 - signals are not blocked unnecessarily, as they were in 2.3.6.
167 - the usepeerdns option should work now.
168 - the SPEED environment variable for scripts is set correctly.
169 - the /etc/ppp/auth-down script is not run until auth-up completes.
170 - the device is opened as root if it is the device on standard
172 - pppd doesn't die with the ioctl(PPPIOCSASYNCMAP) error under linux
173 if a hangup occurs at the wrong time.
175 * Some error messages have been changed to be clearer (I hope :-)
178 What was new in ppp-2.3.6.
179 **************************
181 * Pppd now opens the tty device as the user (rather than as root) if
182 the device name was given by the user, i.e. on the command line or
183 in the ~/.ppprc file. If the device name was given in
184 /etc/ppp/options or in a file loaded with the `call' option, the
185 device is opened as root.
187 * The default behaviour of pppd is now to let a peer which has not
188 authenticated itself (e.g. your ISP) use any IP address to which the
189 system does not already have a route. (This is currently only
190 supported under Linux, Solaris and Digital Unix; on the other
191 systems, the peer must now authenticate itself unless the noauth
194 * Added new option `usepeerdns', thanks to Nick Walker
195 <nickwalker@email.com>. If the peer supplies DNS addresses, these
196 will be written to /etc/ppp/resolv.conf. The ip-up script can then
197 be used to add these addresses to /etc/resolv.conf if desired (see
198 the ip-up.local.add and ip-down.local.add files in the scripts
201 * The Solaris ppp driver should now work correctly on SMP systems.
203 * Minor corrections so that the code can compile under Solaris 7,
204 and under Linux with glibc-2.1.
206 * The Linux kernel driver has been restructured for improved
209 * Pppd now won't start the ip-down script until the ip-up script has
213 What was new in ppp-2.3.5.
214 **************************
216 * Minor corrections to the Digital UNIX and NetBSD ports.
218 * A workaround to avoid tickling a bug in the `se' serial port driver
219 on Sun PCI Ultra machines running Solaris.
221 * Fixed a bug in the negotiation of the Microsoft WINS server address
224 * Fixed a bug in the Linux port where it would fail for kernel
225 versions above 2.1.99.
228 What was new in ppp-2.3.4.
229 **************************
231 * The NeXT port has been updated, thanks to Steve Perkins.
233 * ppp-2.3.4 compiles and works under Solaris 2.6, using either gcc or
236 * With the Solaris, SVR4 and SunOS ports, you can control the choice
237 of C compiler, C compiler options, and installation directories by
238 editing the svr4/Makedefs or sunos4/Makedefs file.
240 * Until now, we have been using the number 24 to identify Deflate
241 compression in the CCP negotiations, which was the number in the draft
242 RFC describing Deflate. The number actually assigned to Deflate is
243 26. The code has been changed to use 26, but to allow the use of 24
244 for now for backwards compatibility. (This can be disabled with the
245 `nodeflatedraft' option to pppd.)
247 * Fixed some bugs in the linux driver and deflate compressor which
248 were causing compression problems, including corrupting long
249 incompressible packets sometimes.
251 * Fixes to the PAM and shadow password support in pppd, from Al
254 * Pppd now sets some environment variables for scripts it invokes
255 (ip-up/down, auth-ip/down), giving information about the connection.
256 The variables it sets are PEERNAME, IPLOCAL, IPREMOTE, UID, DEVICE,
259 * Pppd now has an `updetach' option, which will cause it to detach
260 from its controlling terminal once the link has come up (i.e. once it
261 is available for IP traffic).
264 What was new in ppp-2.3.3.
265 **************************
267 * Fixed compilation problems under SunOS.
269 * Fixed a bug introduced into chat in 2.3.2, and compilation problems
270 introduced into the MS-CHAP implementation in 2.3.2.
272 * The linux kernel driver has been updated for recent 2.1-series
273 kernel changes, and it now will ask kerneld to load compression
274 modules when required, if the kernel is configured to support kerneld.
276 * Pppd should now compile correctly under linux on systems with glibc.
279 What was new in ppp-2.3.2.
280 **************************
282 * In 2.3.1, I made a change which was intended to make pppd able to
283 detect loss of CD during or immediately after the connection script
284 runs. Unfortunately, this had the side-effect that the connection
285 script wouldn't work at all on some systems. This change has been
288 * Fix compilation problems in the Linux kernel driver.
291 What was new in ppp-2.3.1.
292 **************************
294 * Enhancements to chat, thanks to Francis Demierre. Chat can now
295 accept comments in the chat script file, and has new SAY, HANGUP,
296 CLR_ABORT and CLR_REPORT keywords.
298 * Fixed a bug which causes 2.3.0 to crash Solaris systems.
300 * Bug-fixes and restructuring of the Linux kernel driver.
302 * The holdoff behaviour of pppd has been changed slightly: now, if
303 the link comes up for IP (or other network protocol) traffic, we
304 consider that the link has been successfully established, and don't
305 enforce the holdoff period after the link goes down.
307 * Pppd should now correctly wait for CD (carrier detect) from the
308 modem, even when the serial port initially had CLOCAL set, and it
309 should also detect loss of CD during or immediately after the
310 connection script runs.
312 * Under linux, pppd will work with older 2.2.0* version kernel
313 drivers, although demand-dialling is not supported with them.
315 * Minor bugfixes for pppd.
318 What was new in ppp-2.3.
319 ************************
321 * Demand-dialling. Pppd now has a mode where it will establish the
322 network interface immediately when it starts, but not actually bring
323 the link up until it sees some data to be sent. Look for the demand
324 option description in the pppd man page. Demand-dialling is not
325 supported under Ultrix or NeXTStep.
327 * Idle timeout. Pppd will optionally terminate the link if no data
328 packets are sent or received within a certain time interval.
330 * Pppd now runs the /etc/ppp/auth-up script, if it exists, when the
331 peer successfully authenticates itself, and /etc/ppp/auth-down when
332 the connection is subsequently terminated. This can be useful for
335 * A new packet compression scheme, Deflate, has been implemented.
336 This uses the same compression method as `gzip'. This method is free
337 of patent or copyright restrictions, and it achieves better
338 compression than BSD-Compress. It does consume more CPU cycles for
339 compression than BSD-Compress, but this shouldn't be a problem for
340 links running at 100kbit/s or less.
342 * There is no code in this distribution which is covered by Brad
343 Clements' restrictive copyright notice. The STREAMS modules for SunOS
344 and OSF/1 have been rewritten, based on the Solaris 2 modules, which
345 were written from scratch without any Clements code.
347 * Pppstats has been reworked to clean up the output format somewhat.
348 It also has a new -d option which displays data rate in kbyte/s for
349 those columns which would normally display bytes.
351 * Pppd options beginning with - or + have been renamed, e.g. -ip
352 became noip, +chap became require-chap, etc. The old options are
353 still accepted for compatibility but may be removed in future.
355 * Pppd now has some options (such as the new `noauth' option) which
356 can only be specified if it is being run by root, or in an
357 "privileged" options file: /etc/ppp/options or an options file in the
358 /etc/ppp/peers directory. There is a new "call" option to read
359 options from a file in /etc/ppp/peers, making it possible for non-root
360 users to make unauthenticated connections, but only to certain trusted
361 peers. My intention is to make the `auth' option the default in a
364 * Several minor new features have been added to pppd, including the
365 maxconnect and welcome options. Pppd will now terminate the
366 connection when there are no network control protocols running. The
367 allowed IP address(es) field in the secrets files can now specify
368 subnets (with a notation like 123.45.67.89/24) and addresses which are
369 not acceptable (put a ! on the front).
371 * Numerous bugs have been fixed (no doubt some have been introduced :-)
372 Thanks to those who reported bugs in ppp-2.2.
378 The BSD-Compress algorithm used for packet compression is the same as
379 that used in the Unix "compress" command. It is apparently covered by
380 U.S. patents 4,814,746 (owned by IBM) and 4,558,302 (owned by Unisys),
381 and corresponding patents in various other countries (but not
382 Australia). If this is of concern, you can build the package without
383 including BSD-Compress. To do this, edit net/ppp-comp.h to change the
384 definition of DO_BSD_COMPRESS to 0. The bsd-comp.c files are then no
385 longer needed, so the references to bsd-comp.o may optionally be
386 removed from the Makefiles.
392 The comp.protocols.ppp newsgroup is a useful place to get help if you
393 have trouble getting your ppp connections to work. Please do not send
394 me questions of the form "please help me get connected to my ISP" -
395 I'm sorry, but I simply do not have the time to answer all the
396 questions like this that I get.
398 If you find bugs in this package, please report them to the maintainer
399 for the port for the operating system you are using:
401 Linux Paul Mackerras <Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au>
402 Solaris 2 Paul Mackerras <Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au>
403 SunOS 4.x Paul Mackerras (for want of anybody better :-)
404 Digital Unix (OSF/1) Sowmini Varadhan <varadhan@zk3.dec.com>
405 NetBSD Matthew Green <mrg@eterna.com.au>
406 FreeBSD Peter Wemm <peter@haywire.DIALix.COM>
407 NeXTStep Steve Perkins <perkins@cps.msu.edu>
408 System V Release 4 Matthias Apitz <Matthias.Apitz@SOFTCON.de>
409 Ultrix 4.x Paul Mackerras (for want of anybody better :-)
415 All of the code can be freely used and redistributed.
421 The primary site for releases of this software is:
423 ftp://cs.anu.edu.au/pub/software/ppp/
426 ($Id: README,v 1.17 1999/05/13 00:30:16 paulus Exp $)