README
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