ppp/README

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.

In this first beta release, the ports for SunOS, Solaris, NetBSD and
Digital Unix (OSF/1) are believed to be working correctly.  The Linux
port mostly works, but still has some known bugs (demand dialling
doesn't work correctly).  The remaining ports haven't been tested
extensively.  The NeXTStep port is not included here since it hasn't
been updated from 2.2 yet.  For information on its current status, see
http://www.thoughtport.com:8080/PPP/.


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.
**********************

* 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.

* 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.
*********

Bugs in the the SunOS, Solaris 2, NetBSD and Ultrix ports, and bugs in
pppd, chat or pppstats should be reported me at:

	email:	Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au

	mail:	Dr Paul Mackerras
		Dept. of Computer Science
		Australian National University
		Canberra  ACT  0200
		AUSTRALIA

	fax:	+61-6-249-0010

Bugs in other ports should be reported to the maintainer for that port
(see the appropriate README.* file) or to me.

Thanks to:

	Brad Parker  (brad@fcr.com)
	Greg Christy (gmc@quotron.com)
	Drew D. Perkins (ddp@andrew.cmu.edu)
	Rick Adams (rick@seismo.ARPA)
	Chris Torek (chris@mimsy.umd.edu, umcp-cs!chris).


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 1.7 1996/08/28 06:30:32 paulus Exp $)