Re: [L2tpd-devel] using l2tpd with portslave

[Jeff M. <je...@ig...>]

Also sprach Jeremy Lunn
>On Tue, Jan 08, 2002 at 12:49:57PM -0500, Jeff Mcadams wrote:
>> I really would like to get this code base into shape and useable, but
>> I'm just not a particularly impressive programmer on my own. 

>I'm not particularly an impressive programmer at all!  I hope to
>improve my programming skills but it's hard to find the time to learn
>more about it when I have to work, study for school, research other
>interesting topics etc.  It's all a matter of priorities though and
>I'll get there sooner or later.

Yeah, I know the feeling...I'm rather limited in the time that I have to
work on it as well.

>> Hah...yeah...why re-invent the wheel.  I've been toying with writing
>> a kernel module for L2TP support in Linux...I have all of about 20
>> lines

>Yeah I think that would be the most elegant solution.  This seems to be
>a similar goal to http://sourceforge.net/projects/l2tp.

Yeah...I think we're looking at it differently though.

I'm looking at writing what amounts to a PPP channel interface...at
least for the interface between l2tpd and pppd.  I'd also like, at some
point, to support a truer LAC type of functionality....ie, we take PPP
frames in off a serial port or modem and rather than feeding them
through the PPP channel interface to PPP, take them in through the PPP
channel interface to l2tpd.  Of course, we don't have this functionality
right now...so its no real loss to do a kernel implementation without
it, but I want to keep that in mind when designing the kernel interface.

>The only problem with doing a kernel implementation is making it build
>with different kernel versions (that may have various patches applied).
>Once code is actually accepted into the kernel source tree then it
>becomes far more useful and easier to use.

Yeah, and that hassle can be managed...you just have to stay on top of
it.

>Now I just have to get portslave working and see how well I can get
>this working with with RequestDSL.  It would be a good idea to ensure
>that portslave and l2tpd work together and I'm sure it can't be too
>difficult.  I'll probably write a howto when I've finished.

I am rather completely unfamiliar with portslave, so I don't know that I
can be much help in this part...but certainly let us know your success
and keep involved.

>And a few more thoughts on l2tpd:
>-  It would be nice to have a conffile more like portslave (but maybe
>   I just think that because I'm used to portslave).  In particular I
>   like the way how you configure pppd options in portslave although I
>   think the way how I have used the pppd 'file' option is quite a neat
>   work around.  In particular I don't like having boolean options for
>   setting pppd options.

Again, I'm totally unfamiliar with portslave, so that doesn't mean much
to me....I will agree that our conf file sucks swamp water through
straws though.  I've been pondering other possible formats, haven't
really had any bright ideas though.

>-  Perhaps when l2tp is completely kernel space it would an idea to only
>   have to configure portslave in userspace and adopt portslave to answer
>   r l2tp calls.  Although I'm sure some people won't want to use RADIUS
>   authentication and/or accounting.

*shrug*  Sounds cool...what little meaning that carried without knowing
how portslave works.  :)

>-  I have created a very basic l2tpd Debian package which is intended
>   for my own use but anyone is welcome to use it if they wish.
>   Eventually I'd like to put it into Debian.

Oh, *PLEASE* do this!  :)  I think one of the main things holding us
back right now is lack of exposure...

Neale's patch that I just committed are a perfect example of why more
exposure in a project like this is "A Good Thing(tm)".  The more
eyeballs, the quicker development happens.

I would *much* rather be more of a manager of patches rather than
crunching code all the time (again...considering that I'm not all that
fantastic of a coder), but it really hasn't been very practical to do
that up to this point.

>Thanks for those who have helped,

Thank *you*, and I look forward to more input from you and hopefully an
l2tpd package in sid!
-- 
Jeff McAdams                            Email: je...@ig...
Head Network Administrator              Voice: (502) 966-3848
IgLou Internet Services                        (800) 436-4456