This is the README file for ppp-2.4, 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 and Solaris ports of this package have optional support for IPV6; 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 and Solaris, and as a line discipline under Linux and FreeBSD. - 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. The primary platforms supported by this package are Linux and Solaris. Code for SunOS 4.x is included here but is largely untested. I have code for NeXTStep, FreeBSD, SVR4, Tru64 (Digital Unix), AIX and Ultrix but no active maintainers for these platforms. Code for all of these except AIX is included in the ppp-2.3.11 release. 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: Linux README.linux Solaris 2 README.sol2 SunOS 4.x README.sunos4 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. N.B. Since 2.3.0, leaving the permitted IP addresses column of the pap-secrets or chap-secrets file empty means that no addresses are permitted. You need to put a "*" in that column to allow the peer to use any IP address. (This only applies where the peer is authenticating itself to you, of course.) What's new in ppp-2.4.1. ************************ * Pppd can now print out the set of options that are in effect. The new `dump' option causes pppd to print out the option values after option parsing is complete. The `dryrun' option causes pppd to print the options and then exit. * The option parsing code has been fixed so that options in the per-tty options file are parsed correctly, and don't override values from the command line in most cases. * The plugin option now looks in /usr/lib/pppd/ (for example, /usr/lib/pppd/2.4.1b1) for shared objects for plugins if there is no slash in the plugin name. * When loading a plugin, pppd will now check the version of pppd for which the plugin was compiled, and refuse to load it if it is different to pppd's version string. To enable this, the plugin source needs to #include "pppd.h" and have a line saying: char pppd_version[] = VERSION; * There is a bug in zlib, discovered by James Carlson, which can cause kernel memory corruption if Deflate is used with the lowest setting, 8. As a workaround pppd will now insist on using at least 9. * Pppd should compile on Solaris and SunOS again. * Pppd should now set the MTU correctly on demand-dialled interfaces. What was new in ppp-2.4.0. ************************** * Multilink: this package now allows you to combine multiple serial links into one logical link or `bundle', for increased bandwidth and reduced latency. This is currently only supported under the Linux-2.3.99pre5 or later kernels. * All the pppd processes running on a system now write information into a common database. I used the `tdb' code from samba for this. * New hooks have been added. For a list of the changes made during the 2.3 series releases of this package, see the Changes-2.3 file. Compression methods. ******************** This package supports two packet compression methods: Deflate and BSD-Compress. Other compression methods which are in common use include Predictor, LZS, and MPPC. These methods are not supported for two reasons - they are patent-encumbered, and they cause some packets to expand slightly, which pppd doesn't currently allow for. BSD-Compress is also patent-encumbered (its inclusion in this package can be considered a historical anomaly :-) but it doesn't ever expand packets. Neither does Deflate, which uses the same algorithm as gzip. 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: Linux Paul Mackerras Solaris 2 James Carlson SunOS 4.x Adi Masputra Copyrights: *********** All of the code can be freely used and redistributed. The individual source files each have their own copyright and permission notice; some have a BSD-style notice and some are under the GPL. Distribution: ************* The primary site for releases of this software is: ftp://linuxcare.com.au/pub/ppp/ ($Id$)