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PPPCTL(8)              DragonFly System Manager's Manual             PPPCTL(8)

NAME
     pppctl -- PPP control program

SYNOPSIS
     pppctl [-v] [-t n] [-p passwd] [host:]Port | LocalSocket
            [command[;command]...]

DESCRIPTION
     This utility provides command line control of the ppp(8) daemon.  Its
     primary use is to facilitate simple scripts that control a running dae-
     mon.

     The pppctl utility is passed at least one argument, specifying the socket
     on which ppp is listening.  Refer to the `set server' command of ppp for
     details.  If the socket contains a leading '/', it is taken as an
     AF_LOCAL socket.  If it contains a colon, it is treated as a host:port
     pair, otherwise it is treated as a TCP port specification on the local
     machine (127.0.0.1).  Both the host and port may be specified numerically
     if you wish to avoid a DNS lookup or don't have an entry for the given
     port in /etc/services.

     All remaining arguments are concatenated to form the command(s) that will
     be sent to the ppp daemon.  If any semi-colon characters are found, they
     are treated as command delimiters, allowing more than one command in a
     given `session'.  For example:

           pppctl 3000 set timeout 300\; show timeout

     Don't forget to escape or quote the ';' as it is a special character for
     most shells.

     If no command arguments are given, pppctl enters interactive mode, where
     commands are read from standard input.  When reading commands, the
     editline(3) library is used, allowing command-line editing (with
     editrc(5) defining editing behaviour).  The history size defaults to 20
     lines.

     The following command line options are available:

     -v      Display all data sent to and received from the ppp daemon.  Nor-
             mally, pppctl displays only non-prompt lines received.  This
             option is ignored in interactive mode.

     -t n    Use a timeout of n instead of the default 2 seconds when connect-
             ing.  This may be required if you wish to control a daemon over a
             slow (or even a dialup) link.

     -p passwd
             Specify the password required by the ppp daemon.  If this switch
             is not used, pppctl will prompt for a password once it has suc-
             cessfully connected to ppp.

ENVIRONMENT
     The following environment variables are understood by pppctl when in
     interactive mode:

     EL_SIZE     The number of history lines.  The default is 20.

     EL_EDITOR   The edit mode.  Only values of "emacs" and "vi" are accepted.
                 Other values are silently ignored.  This environment variable
                 will override the bind -v and bind -e commands in ~/.editrc.

EXAMPLES
     If you run ppp in -auto mode, pppctl can be used to automate many fre-
     quent tasks (you can actually control ppp in any mode except interactive
     mode).  Use of the -p option is discouraged (even in scripts that aren't
     readable by others) as a ps(1) listing may reveal your secret.

     The best way to allow easy, secure pppctl access is to create a local
     server socket in /etc/ppp/ppp.conf (in the correct section) like this:

           set server /var/run/internet "" 0177

     This will instruct ppp to create a local domain socket, with srw-------
     permissions and no password, allowing access only to the user that
     invoked ppp.  Refer to the ppp(8) man page for further details.

     You can now create some easy-access scripts.  To connect to the internet:

           #! /bin/sh
           test $# -eq 0 && time=300 || time=$1
           exec pppctl /var/run/internet set timeout $time\; dial

     To disconnect:

           #! /bin/sh
           exec pppctl /var/run/internet set timeout 300\; close

     To check if the line is up:

           #! /bin/sh
           pppctl -p '' -v /var/run/internet quit | grep ^PPP >/dev/null
           if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
             echo Link is up
           else
             echo Link is down
           fi

     You can even make a generic script:

           #! /bin/sh
           exec pppctl /var/run/internet "$@"

     You could also use pppctl to control when dial-on-demand works.  Suppose
     you want ppp to run all the time, but you want to prevent dial-out
     between 8pm and 8am each day.  However, any connections active at 8pm
     should continue to remain active until they are closed or naturally time
     out.

     A cron(8) entry for 8pm which runs

           pppctl /var/run/internet set filter dial 0 deny 0 0

     will block all further dial requests, and the corresponding 8am entry

           pppctl /var/run/internet set filter dial -1

     will allow them again.

SEE ALSO
     ps(1), editline(3), editrc(5), services(5), ppp(8)

HISTORY
     The pppctl utility first appeared in FreeBSD 2.2.5.

DragonFly 3.5                    June 26, 1997                   DragonFly 3.5