1This is the README file for ppp-2.4, a package which implements the 2Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to provide Internet connections over 3serial lines. 4 5 6Introduction. 7************* 8 9The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) provides a standard way to establish 10a network connection over a serial link. At present, this package 11supports IP and the protocols layered above IP, such as TCP and UDP. 12The Linux port of this package also has support for IPX. 13 14This software consists of two parts: 15 16- Kernel code, which establishes a network interface and passes 17packets between the serial port, the kernel networking code and the 18PPP daemon (pppd). This code is implemented using STREAMS modules on 19SunOS 4.x and Solaris, and as a line discipline under Linux and FreeBSD. 20 21- The PPP daemon (pppd), which negotiates with the peer to establish 22the link and sets up the ppp network interface. Pppd includes support 23for authentication, so you can control which other systems may make a 24PPP connection and what IP addresses they may use. 25 26The primary platforms supported by this package are Linux and Solaris. 27Code for SunOS 4.x is included here but is largely untested. I have 28code for NeXTStep, FreeBSD, SVR4, Tru64 (Digital Unix), AIX and Ultrix 29but no active maintainers for these platforms. Code for all of these 30except AIX is included in the ppp-2.3.11 release. 31 32 33Installation. 34************* 35 36The file SETUP contains general information about setting up your 37system for using PPP. There is also a README file for each supported 38system, which contains more specific details for installing PPP on 39that system. The supported systems, and the corresponding README 40files, are: 41 42 Linux README.linux 43 Solaris 2 README.sol2 44 SunOS 4.x README.sunos4 45 46In each case you start by running the ./configure script. This works 47out which operating system you are using and creates symbolic links to 48the appropriate makefiles. You then run `make' to compile the 49user-level code, and (as root) `make install' to install the 50user-level programs pppd, chat and pppstats. 51 52N.B. Since 2.3.0, leaving the permitted IP addresses column of the 53pap-secrets or chap-secrets file empty means that no addresses are 54permitted. You need to put a "*" in that column to allow the peer to 55use any IP address. (This only applies where the peer is 56authenticating itself to you, of course.) 57 58 59What's new in ppp-2.4.0. 60************************ 61 62* Multilink: this package now allows you to combine multiple serial 63 links into one logical link or `bundle', for increased bandwidth and 64 reduced latency. This is currently only supported under the 65 Linux-2.3.99pre5 or later kernels. 66 67* All the pppd processes running on a system now write information 68 into a common database. I used the `tdb' code from samba for this. 69 70* New hooks have been added. 71 72For a list of the changes made during the 2.3 series releases of this 73package, see the Changes-2.3 file. 74 75 76Compression methods. 77******************** 78 79This package supports two packet compression methods: Deflate and 80BSD-Compress. Other compression methods which are in common use 81include Predictor, LZS, and MPPC. These methods are not supported for 82two reasons - they are patent-encumbered, and they cause some packets 83to expand slightly, which pppd doesn't currently allow for. 84BSD-Compress is also patent-encumbered (its inclusion in this package 85can be considered a historical anomaly :-) but it doesn't ever expand 86packets. Neither does Deflate, which uses the same algorithm as gzip. 87 88 89Patents. 90******** 91 92The BSD-Compress algorithm used for packet compression is the same as 93that used in the Unix "compress" command. It is apparently covered by 94U.S. patents 4,814,746 (owned by IBM) and 4,558,302 (owned by Unisys), 95and corresponding patents in various other countries (but not 96Australia). If this is of concern, you can build the package without 97including BSD-Compress. To do this, edit net/ppp-comp.h to change the 98definition of DO_BSD_COMPRESS to 0. The bsd-comp.c files are then no 99longer needed, so the references to bsd-comp.o may optionally be 100removed from the Makefiles. 101 102 103Contacts. 104********* 105 106The comp.protocols.ppp newsgroup is a useful place to get help if you 107have trouble getting your ppp connections to work. Please do not send 108me questions of the form "please help me get connected to my ISP" - 109I'm sorry, but I simply do not have the time to answer all the 110questions like this that I get. 111 112If you find bugs in this package, please report them to the maintainer 113for the port for the operating system you are using: 114 115Linux Paul Mackerras <paulus@linuxcare.com> 116Solaris 2 Adi Masputra <adi.masputra@sun.com> 117SunOS 4.x Adi Masputra <adi.masputra@sun.com> 118 119 120Copyrights: 121*********** 122 123All of the code can be freely used and redistributed. The individual 124source files each have their own copyright and permission notice; some 125have a BSD-style notice and some are under the GPL. 126 127 128Distribution: 129************* 130 131The primary site for releases of this software is: 132 133 ftp://linuxcare.com.au/pub/ppp/ 134 135 136($Id: README,v 1.2 2002/03/13 22:43:55 callie Exp $) 137