PPP

[Marcus Brinkmann]

Hi,

I have set up ppp according to Neal's instructions, over a serial direct
link between two computers (speed 19200 to avoid gnumach errors), one
running GNU/Linux and one running GNU/Hurd (you should be able to do this on
a single box with two serial ports and two instances of um-pppd as well).
The um-pppd configuration on the Hurd box is in /etc/ppp/ppp.conf:

default:
 set log -all
 set device /dev/com0
 set speed 19200
 set timeout 0
 set ifaddr 192.168.0.2 192.168.0.1
 dial
 add default HISADDR

(I disable logging because a bug in the glibc package prevents syslog
from working correctly, this bug is fixed in CVS since quite a while.
If you have the poll fix then you can enable logging).

I set the speed of the serial line to 19200 by this:
stty speed 19200 < /dev/com0

(note: this prints the previous speed, so enter twice to verify that it
worked correctly).

I set up pfinet (after killing it with kill -9):
settrans /servers/socket/2 /hurd/pfinet -i tun0

(you can add -i tun0 to your existing configuration to have ethernet and
ppp).

I enter the following command on the GNU/Linux box:

stty speed 19200 < /dev/ttyS0
pppd /dev/ttyS0 192.168.0.1:192.168.0.2 noauth nodetach novj debug 19200 local

(if you have the cross over serial cable on some other serial adapter,
change the device in both commands).

Then I initiate the connection in the GNU/Hurd side:
ppp

You should get a few error messages associated to pfinet not understanding
some configuration changes.  Ignore those.  Then press return once or twice,
and the prompt should change to

ppp>
PPp>
PPP>

you are now connected.  Try ping between the two boxes.

I can do some of the things Neal described in one of the posts here.
For example, I can ftp to the other machine, and download a small file
(smaller than 500 bytes).  But larger files are not retrieved.  On the Hurd
side, "show hdlc" shows bad frame check sequence fields errors.
On the GNU/Linux side ifconfig shows receive errors, too.

However, the main point is:  ping works, some basic stuff works, and it
should be possible to debug the remaining problems without too much hassles.
The main candidates for the problems are um-pppd (in particular the tty
backend of it) and the term translator.  Neal and me tested ppp over ethernet
(_not_ what you know as PPPoE), and it worked just fine.

There were many people on this list who were interested in ppp in the past. 
If there still are, maybe someone can spend a few hours stomping out the
remaining bugs (or at least localising them).

Thanks,
Marcus

-- 
`Rhubarb is no Egyptian god.' Debian http://www.debian.org brinkmd@debian.org
Marcus Brinkmann              GNU    http://www.gnu.org    marcus@gnu.org
Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
http://www.marcus-brinkmann.de