169 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
169 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
This is the README file for ppp-2.4, a package which implements the
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Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to provide Internet connections over
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serial lines.
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Introduction.
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*************
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The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) provides a standard way to establish
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a network connection over a serial link. At present, this package
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supports IP and the protocols layered above IP, such as TCP and UDP.
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The Linux and Solaris ports of this package have optional support for
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IPV6; the Linux port of this package also has support for IPX.
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This software consists of two parts:
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- Kernel code, which establishes a network interface and passes
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packets between the serial port, the kernel networking code and the
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PPP daemon (pppd). This code is implemented using STREAMS modules on
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SunOS 4.x and Solaris, and as a line discipline under Linux and FreeBSD.
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- The PPP daemon (pppd), which negotiates with the peer to establish
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the link and sets up the ppp network interface. Pppd includes support
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for authentication, so you can control which other systems may make a
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PPP connection and what IP addresses they may use.
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The primary platforms supported by this package are Linux and Solaris.
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Code for SunOS 4.x is included here but is largely untested. I have
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code for NeXTStep, FreeBSD, SVR4, Tru64 (Digital Unix), AIX and Ultrix
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but no active maintainers for these platforms. Code for all of these
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except AIX is included in the ppp-2.3.11 release.
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Installation.
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*************
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The file SETUP contains general information about setting up your
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system for using PPP. There is also a README file for each supported
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system, which contains more specific details for installing PPP on
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that system. The supported systems, and the corresponding README
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files, are:
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Linux README.linux
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Solaris 2 README.sol2
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SunOS 4.x README.sunos4
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In each case you start by running the ./configure script. This works
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out which operating system you are using and creates symbolic links to
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the appropriate makefiles. You then run `make' to compile the
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user-level code, and (as root) `make install' to install the
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user-level programs pppd, chat and pppstats.
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N.B. Since 2.3.0, leaving the permitted IP addresses column of the
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pap-secrets or chap-secrets file empty means that no addresses are
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permitted. You need to put a "*" in that column to allow the peer to
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use any IP address. (This only applies where the peer is
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authenticating itself to you, of course.)
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What's new in ppp-2.4.1.
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************************
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* Pppd can now print out the set of options that are in effect. The
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new `dump' option causes pppd to print out the option values after
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option parsing is complete. The `dryrun' option causes pppd to
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print the options and then exit.
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* The option parsing code has been fixed so that options in the
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per-tty options file are parsed correctly, and don't override values
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from the command line in most cases.
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* The plugin option now looks in /usr/lib/pppd/<pppd-version> (for
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example, /usr/lib/pppd/2.4.1b1) for shared objects for plugins if
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there is no slash in the plugin name.
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* When loading a plugin, pppd will now check the version of pppd for
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which the plugin was compiled, and refuse to load it if it is
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different to pppd's version string. To enable this, the plugin
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source needs to #include "pppd.h" and have a line saying:
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char pppd_version[] = VERSION;
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* There is a bug in zlib, discovered by James Carlson, which can cause
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kernel memory corruption if Deflate is used with the lowest setting,
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8. As a workaround pppd will now insist on using at least 9.
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* Pppd should compile on Solaris and SunOS again.
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* Pppd should now set the MTU correctly on demand-dialled interfaces.
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What was new in ppp-2.4.0.
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**************************
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* Multilink: this package now allows you to combine multiple serial
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links into one logical link or `bundle', for increased bandwidth and
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reduced latency. This is currently only supported under the
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Linux-2.3.99pre5 or later kernels.
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* All the pppd processes running on a system now write information
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into a common database. I used the `tdb' code from samba for this.
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* New hooks have been added.
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For a list of the changes made during the 2.3 series releases of this
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package, see the Changes-2.3 file.
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Compression methods.
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********************
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This package supports two packet compression methods: Deflate and
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BSD-Compress. Other compression methods which are in common use
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include Predictor, LZS, and MPPC. These methods are not supported for
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two reasons - they are patent-encumbered, and they cause some packets
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to expand slightly, which pppd doesn't currently allow for.
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BSD-Compress is also patent-encumbered (its inclusion in this package
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can be considered a historical anomaly :-) but it doesn't ever expand
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packets. Neither does Deflate, which uses the same algorithm as gzip.
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Patents.
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********
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The BSD-Compress algorithm used for packet compression is the same as
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that used in the Unix "compress" command. It is apparently covered by
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U.S. patents 4,814,746 (owned by IBM) and 4,558,302 (owned by Unisys),
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and corresponding patents in various other countries (but not
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Australia). If this is of concern, you can build the package without
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including BSD-Compress. To do this, edit net/ppp-comp.h to change the
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definition of DO_BSD_COMPRESS to 0. The bsd-comp.c files are then no
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longer needed, so the references to bsd-comp.o may optionally be
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removed from the Makefiles.
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Contacts.
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*********
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The comp.protocols.ppp newsgroup is a useful place to get help if you
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have trouble getting your ppp connections to work. Please do not send
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me questions of the form "please help me get connected to my ISP" -
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I'm sorry, but I simply do not have the time to answer all the
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questions like this that I get.
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If you find bugs in this package, please report them to the maintainer
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for the port for the operating system you are using:
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Linux Paul Mackerras <paulus@linuxcare.com>
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Solaris 2 James Carlson <james.d.carlson@east.sun.com>
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SunOS 4.x Adi Masputra <adi.masputra@sun.com>
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Copyrights:
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***********
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All of the code can be freely used and redistributed. The individual
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source files each have their own copyright and permission notice; some
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have a BSD-style notice and some are under the GPL.
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Distribution:
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*************
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The primary site for releases of this software is:
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ftp://linuxcare.com.au/pub/ppp/
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($Id: README,v 1.1.1.4 2002/05/29 18:30:16 christos Exp $)
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