path: root/README.NeXT

#
#  $Id: README.NeXT,v 1.2 1995/12/18 03:29:36 paulus Exp $
#

This distribution contains a port of PPP-2.2 for NeXT.  The full
source code is available as well as an MAB installer package.  Since
this project is a continuing effort, you are encouraged to check out
the WWW page to see if you have the latest software.  This is
especially true if you find you have problems with the version you
presently use. For more information on the NeXT PPP port see:
  http://www.thoughtport.com:8080/PPP/
     -or-
  ftp://ftp.thoughtport.com/pub/next/ppp/

For more information on PPP in general, you might want to check out:
   http://cs.uni-bonn.de/ppp/faq.html
     -and-
   ftp://morningstar.com/pub/papers/ppp-white-paper.ps.gz
     -and-
   http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/pdial/faq.html
       (This last is a list of internet providers)


See the file ./README for general information regarding PPP-2.2 for
       all computer systems.
See the file ./SETUP for general setup information for all computer systems.
See the file ./NeXT/INSTALL for NeXT Specific installation instructions.
See the file ./NeXT/README.NeXT for bugs.

New to release 0.4.6 (LKS version 4.14)
=======================================

 * Added a kernel optimization that will reduce the 
   interrupt load on the CPU.  This optimization will
   only work if you use the latest serial drivers supplied
   by NeXT.  You can get these drivers off of NeXTAnswers.
   The optimization will not work if you use the Mux serial
   driver.  I believe that this optimization will solve many
   of the kernel panics that people have reported.

 * Added support for Microsoft's extended DNS negotiation.
   This will only be of use for people who server PPP clients
   using Win95, TechSmith Corporation's Foray PPP client 
   (http://www.techsmith.com) for WFWG 3.11, or others whose
   client supports this mechanism. Thanks to
   clameter@hur.fuller.edu (Christoph Lameter) for supplying the
   patches.  This patch is totally untested since I don't serve 
   any clients, and if I did I wouldn't admit to running a 
   MicroSloth operating system.

 * Various minor fixes to documentation and examples.


New to release 0.4.5 (LKS version 4.9 release1)
======================================

 * This release is based on the third beta release of
   PPP-2.2 (ppp-2.2b3.tar.gz) by Paul Mackerras.  It will
   probably be the version released along with PPP-2.2.

 * Some enhancements to the Example ip-up and ip-down
   scripts.

 * Several documentation enhancements to support the
   actual release.

 * Removed the new locking code.  Temporarily, we continue
   to rely on the old mechanism.

 * This program runs on Intel, Moto, and Sparc.  It apparently
   runs fine on HP until shutdown.  Then there appear to be problems.
   Due to time constraints, this will have to be corrected as a patch.
   As usual, this will be available on ftp.thoughtport.com:/pub/next/ppp/.


New to release 0.4.4 (LKS version 4.5)
======================================

 * The netbuf queueing mechanism was significantly
   simplified.  It is hoped that some HP memory
   alignment problems were also solved.  This may
   help solve some of the mysterious panics others have
   seen.

 * A new locking mechanism was implemented that
   may simplify the spl() calls.

 * Memory allocation in BSD Compress code was cleaned up in 
   an attempt to solve HP alignment problems.  

 * Thanks go to Pete French <pete@ohm.york.ac.uk> for all the 
   above modifications

New to release 0.4.3 (LKS version 4.4)
======================================

 * This release fixes some problems regarding
   HP and SPARC support.  It is said to now run
   on Sparc.  I would hope HP also but havn't heard
   yet.  Thanks to Dave Hess <David-Hess@net.tamu.edu>
   for finding the problems for Sparc.

 * Minor documentation fixes.


New to release 0.4.0 (LKS version 4.1 - summerb2)
=================================================

 * This release is based on the second beta release
   of PPP-2.2 (ppp-2.2b2).

 * The default chat is now the one supplied in the beta
   PPP release.  This chat will compile fine using Dev 3.3.
   However, if you are running Dev 3.2, you will not be able
   to compile the default chat (POSIX problems).  In this case,
   you may use the old chat (renamed as ./chat/chat.c.3.2).



New to release 0.4.0 (LKS version 4.0 - summerb1)
=================================================

 * This release is based on the first beta release
   of PPP-2.2 (ppp-2.2b1).

 * Chat was updated in the new beta.  However, because
   of broken posix functionality under NeXTSTEP (3.2) it 
   will not compile properly.  Therefore, the old chat
   is being used.  The newer chat is backed up as
   ./chat/chat.c.orig.  Those with Dev 3.3 may wish to 
   try to compile to see if the posix problems were fixed.

 * Support for the Microsoft Call Back Configuration Protocol.	
   See the file ./README.cbcp.



New to release 0.3.0 (LKS version 3.0 - summera51)
=====================================

 * This release is the first to be based on the fifth alpha
   release of PPP-2.2 (ppp-2.2a5).

 * Major kernel revision.  This release attempts to merge
   the LKS written by Perkins and that written by Prindeville/French.
   The hope is that this new merged kernel will allow us to maintain
   one set of sources.  This kernel, or a variant thereof, will
   probably be the one that is released with the PPP-2.2 beta
   distribution.

 * Fixed a bug that caused problems with NXFax's capability
   to determine port usage.

 * Added support for the Berkley Packet Filter (BPF) and tcpdump.
   Use of BPF requires special installation instructions.  See
   the installation file for more info.

 * Fixed a header include problem that kept sources from compiling
   under NS 3.3 Dev. for m68k.  *Sigh* I guess support for m68k
   continues to falter... :(

 * Officially changed the name of the log file from:
      /usr/adm/ppp2.2.debug
             -to-
      /usr/adm/ppp2.2.log
   If you are upgrading, you should change the name of the file
   in /etc/syslog.conf.  Remember to watch out for the tab character
   and remember to create the initial file.  For more information see
   ./NeXT/INSTALL.

   This change was done so that the file could be opened from the
   workspace.  There was a naming conflict with the .debug extension.
   Note also, that this name is a bit different than that suggested in
   the ./SETUP file.

 * Fixed a problem with the pppd option 'local'.

As part of a5:

 * Fixed a bug in pppd that would allow service (under some circumstances)
   to peers who refuse to authenticate.

 * Fixed a bug with CCP negotiation. 

 * Fixed a bug that caused negotation with an NT RAS PPP server to fail.
  

New to release 1.9 (LKS version 2.1)
=====================================

 * Support for NS Sparc has been added. Sparc users note, the SUN
   serial driver in the pre-release was not very robust at high speeds.
   This has been fixed for the final release.  This could cause problems
   with testing on Sparc.  Low bps rates should be OK...like 2400 to
   maybe 9600 with low system activity.  Thanks go to
   John Landwehr <John_Landwehr@NeXT.COM> for this work.

 * Fixed a nasty little bug that degraded performance of multiple
   interfaces on Intel systems.

 * Added support for IP address filtering.  This allows
   detection and prevetion of IP address spoofing.  Check out
   the new ./pppexclude directory.  Thanks to
   Lawrence E. Freil <lef@woods.com> for this code.

 * More support for multiple ppp connections to different
   hosts.  Check out ./Examples/ppp_multiple_hosts.tar.gz.
   Thanks to Jonathan Adams <jonathan@filoli.com> for this
   code.

 * Modified lock file for better UUCP interaction.  Special
   thanks to Kim Shrier <kim@tinker.com> for this code.

 * Fixed the new 3.3 multicast warning.

 * Improved installation documentation.


New to release 1.8 (LKS version 1.3)
=====================================

 * Moved to ppp-2.2a4, the fourth alpha release
   from Paul Mackerras <Paul.Mackerras@cs.anu.edu.au>.

 * Fixed a bug that I introduced in 1.7 that could cause
   kernel panics when BSD compression was used in conjunction
   with VJ header compression.

 * LKS Numbering Scheme changed (due to my screwup with a4 and CVS).

 * Removed support for extra pppd option 'usepty'.  Can be done
   with an external program if desired.

 * Included the old modified pppstats.c that shows compression
   statistics.

New to release 1.7 (LKS version 1.31)
=====================================

 * Moved packet compression outside the interrupt handler.
   Previously, only packet decompression was done outside.

 * Made many enhancements as suggested by Paul Mackerras.

 * Fixed a bug that sometimes caused "bad fcs" errors to panic
   the machine.

 * Fixed a problem that caused NFS traffic to force
   compression to exit (and sometimes hang NFS).
   NFS traffic works properly now (regardless of the buffer size
   set via the NFSManager.app).

 * Fixed a timeout problem in pppd that could sometimes cause
   negotiations to loop endlessly.  This fix should eventually make
   it into ppp2.2a4.

 * Split code into multiple files for better organization.

 * Fixed pppstats to show compression ratios on the proper
   side.  Left side is for incoming packets and right side is
   for outgoing packets.

 * Added some suggested enhancements to
   pppd.  These suggestions were brought up
   on the ports mailing list and will probably
   be included in ppp2.2a4.  I added them for 
   the interrim.  They basically involve better permissions
   for running the ip-up and ip-down scripts.  They are now run
   as the effective user-id of pppd.  So if you run pppd suid,
   root, then ip-up and ip-down are run as root.
   
 * Corrected several minor documentation problems.


New to release 1.6 (LKS version 1.24)
=====================================

 * Added support for HP-PA systems.  Many thanks go to
   Alain Fauconnet <af@biomath.jussieu.fr> for his efforts in this
   work.

 * Added further performance enhancements to the LKS.  This resulted
   in fewer "silo overflows", and thus dropped packets, when operating
   at high speed (>= 38.4KBS) sustained bidirectional transfers over
   multiple interfaces.

 * Updated the installation instructions.


New to release 1.5 (LKS version 1.22)
=====================================

 * Not a real release.  Used for distributing
   tests to HPPA users.


New to release 1.4 (LKS version 1.18)
=====================================

 * Fixed problem that delayed many PPP protcol packets from timely
   delivery to pppd.

 * Added compression statistics support for pppstats.

 * Cleaned up processor priority levels. 

 * Added better support for netbuf queue monitoring.


New to release 1.3 (LKS version 1.16)
=====================================

 * At compile time, you have the option to decompress VJ/BSD
   packets either inside or outside the interrupt handler.
   See the DECOMP_OUT flag in ./NeXT/Makefile.  The old 
   functionality was to do the work inside the interrupt
   handler.  It is probably more appropriate to do it
   outside. Thanks to Pete French <pete@ohm.york.ac.uk> for
   discussion on this topic.

 * Added initial support for operation over pseudo
   ttys.  See the USEPTY flag in ./pppd/Makefile.NeXT.
   This adds a new option to pppd, "usepty <hostname>".
   If this option is used, pppd will fire up an rlogin
   session to <hostname>.  You may then use chat as normal
   to start the remote ppp.  Thereafter, the packets flow
   over the rlogin session.  This may potentially be used
   to start a new ppp session over an open ppp session.

 * Added enhancements and changes suggested for ppp-2.2a3.
   This includes some fixes to the BSD compression code
   that caused it to turn off compression inappropriately
   under error conditions.

 * Patched pppd to better support code that sleeps but never
   wakes in ip-up scripts.  Thanks to longyear@netcom.com 
   (Al Longyear) and Bill Hay <wish@dumain.demon.co.uk>.

 * Did more verification with the full version of NXFAX installed. 
   Seems to work flawlessly!  Thanks to Rick Damon <nxfax@bandw.com>
   at Black and White for his help in the matter.

 * Added a new 'Examples' directory to the hierarchy.  This
   will become a collecting place for user info.



New to release 1.2 (LKS version 1.13)
=====================================

 * The system now supports BSD Packet compression using the new CCP.
   Of course, both ends must negotiate this option.


New to release 1.1
==================

 * The system now works with the MuX serial driver V1.5. Probably 
   version 1.4 also.  No changes need to be made to the MuX buffer
   (and DOUBLE_BUFFER) values. 

 * The system now works when NXFax is installed.

 * There have been some internal optimizations for those
   who use the NeXT supplied serial drivers.


New to release 1.0
==================

 * On Intel systems, some ioctl calls did not return the proper value.
   This turned out to be a bug in the OS.  A true workaround has been
   implemented.  The ioctl return value macro is now only used to 
   check for return value errors.  Flags are now correctly set without
   the macro.

 * Multiple interfaces now work properly.  The ioctl fix above solved
   the problem of a second interface "stealing" the first interface.

 * lcp-echo-failure works.

 * We are now using the default pppstats.  This was modified to 
   use an ioctl to get information.  One less program we have to 
   support.  pppstats no longer requires the SUID bit or the loadable.

 * We are now using the default VJ compression code.  Another
   file we do not have to support.

 * PPP-2.2 uses a new mechanism for determining when to kill pppd.
   This should solve the process group problems we have been
   experiencing.

 * Compression is not yet implemented.  This release should give you
   the same (but more stable) functionality as the ppp-2.1.2 release.



For problems, please mail nextppp@listproc.thoughtport.com.  Make
sure you read the TROUBLESHOOTING section in ./NeXT/INSTALL so that
you send all the appropriate information.  Further, there is an
extensive FAQ available at:
  http://www.thoughtport.com:8080/PPP/