This is the README file for ppp-2.3, a package which implements the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to provide Internet connections over serial lines. Introduction. ************* The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) provides a standard way to establish a network connection over a serial link. At present, this package supports IP and the protocols layered above IP, such as TCP and UDP. The Linux port of this package also has support for IPX. This software consists of two parts: - Kernel code, which establishes a network interface and passes packets between the serial port, the kernel networking code and the PPP daemon (pppd). This code is implemented using STREAMS modules on SunOS 4.x, Solaris 2.x, System V Release 4, and OSF/1, and as a line discipline under Ultrix, NextStep, NetBSD, FreeBSD, and Linux. - The PPP daemon (pppd), which negotiates with the peer to establish the link and sets up the ppp network interface. Pppd includes support for authentication, so you can control which other systems may make a PPP connection and what IP addresses they may use. Installation. ************* The file SETUP contains general information about setting up your system for using PPP. There is also a README file for each supported system, which contains more specific details for installing PPP on that system. The supported systems, and the corresponding README files, are: Digital Unix (OSF/1) README.osf Linux README.linux NetBSD, FreeBSD README.bsd NeXTStep README.next Solaris 2 README.sol2 SunOS 4.x README.sunos4 System V Release 4 README.svr4 Ultrix 4.x README.ultrix (Unfortunately, AIX 4 is no longer supported, since I don't have a maintainer for the AIX 4 port. If you want to volunteer, contact me.) In each case you start by running the ./configure script. This works out which operating system you are using and creates symbolic links to the appropriate makefiles. You then run `make' to compile the user-level code, and (as root) `make install' to install the user-level programs pppd, chat and pppstats. The procedures for installing the kernel code vary from system to system. On some systems, the kernel code can be loaded into a running kernel using a `modload' facility. On others, the kernel image has to be recompiled and the system rebooted. See the README.* files for details. What's new in ppp-2.3.1. ************************ * Enhancements to chat, thanks to Francis Demierre. Chat can now accept comments in the chat script file, and has new SAY, HANGUP, CLR_ABORT and CLR_REPORT keywords. * Fixed a bug which causes 2.3.0 to crash Solaris systems. * Bug-fixes and restructuring of the Linux kernel driver. * The holdoff behaviour of pppd has been changed slightly: now, if the link comes up for IP (or other network protocol) traffic, we consider that the link has been successfully established, and don't enforce the holdoff period after the link goes down. * Pppd should now correctly wait for CD (carrier detect) from the modem, even when the serial port initially had CLOCAL set, and it should also detect loss of CD during or immediately after the connection script runs. * Under linux, pppd will work with older 2.2.0* version kernel drivers, although demand-dialling is not supported with them. * Minor bugfixes for pppd. What's new in ppp-2.3. ********************** * Demand-dialling. Pppd now has a mode where it will establish the network interface immediately when it starts, but not actually bring the link up until it sees some data to be sent. Look for the demand option description in the pppd man page. Demand-dialling is not supported under Ultrix or NeXTStep. * Idle timeout. Pppd will optionally terminate the link if no data packets are sent or received within a certain time interval. * Pppd now runs the /etc/ppp/auth-up script, if it exists, when the peer successfully authenticates itself, and /etc/ppp/auth-down when the connection is subsequently terminated. This can be useful for accounting purposes. * A new packet compression scheme, Deflate, has been implemented. This uses the same compression method as `gzip'. This method is free of patent or copyright restrictions, and it achieves better compression than BSD-Compress. It does consume more CPU cycles for compression than BSD-Compress, but this shouldn't be a problem for links running at 100kbit/s or less. * There is no code in this distribution which is covered by Brad Clements' restrictive copyright notice. The STREAMS modules for SunOS and OSF/1 have been rewritten, based on the Solaris 2 modules, which were written from scratch without any Clements code. * Pppstats has been reworked to clean up the output format somewhat. It also has a new -d option which displays data rate in kbyte/s for those columns which would normally display bytes. * Pppd options beginning with - or + have been renamed, e.g. -ip became noip, +chap became require-chap, etc. The old options are still accepted for compatibility but may be removed in future. * Pppd now has some options (such as the new `noauth' option) which can only be specified if it is being run by root, or in an "privileged" options file: /etc/ppp/options or an options file in the /etc/ppp/peers directory. There is a new "call" option to read options from a file in /etc/ppp/peers, making it possible for non-root users to make unauthenticated connections, but only to certain trusted peers. My intention is to make the `auth' option the default in a future release. * Several minor new features have been added to pppd, including the maxconnect and welcome options. Pppd will now terminate the connection when there are no network control protocols running. The allowed IP address(es) field in the secrets files can now specify subnets (with a notation like 123.45.67.89/24) and addresses which are not acceptable (put a ! on the front). * Numerous bugs have been fixed (no doubt some have been introduced :-) Thanks to those who reported bugs in ppp-2.2. Patents. ******** The BSD-Compress algorithm used for packet compression is the same as that used in the Unix "compress" command. It is apparently covered by U.S. patents 4,814,746 (owned by IBM) and 4,558,302 (owned by Unisys), and corresponding patents in various other countries (but not Australia). If this is of concern, you can build the package without including BSD-Compress. To do this, edit net/ppp-comp.h to change the definition of DO_BSD_COMPRESS to 0. The bsd-comp.c files are then no longer needed, so the references to bsd-comp.o may optionally be removed from the Makefiles. Contacts. ********* The comp.protocols.ppp newsgroup is a useful place to get help if you have trouble getting your ppp connections to work. Please do not send me questions of the form "please help me get connected to my ISP" - I'm sorry, but I simply do not have the time to answer all the questions like this that I get. If you find bugs in this package, please report them to the maintainer for the port for the operating system you are using: Digital Unix (OSF/1) Farrell Woods Linux Al Longyear NetBSD Matthew Green NeXTStep Steve Perkins Solaris 2 Paul Mackerras SunOS 4.x Paul Mackerras System V Release 4 Matthias Apitz Ultrix 4.x Paul Mackerras (for want of anybody better :-) Copyrights: *********** All of the code can be freely used and redistributed. Distribution: ************* The primary site for releases of this software is: ftp://cs.anu.edu.au/pub/software/ppp/ ($Id: README,v 1.9 1997/07/14 03:48:52 paulus Exp $)