[openbeosnetteam] Re: general or PPP ideas

Waldemar wrote:
> AAAAAAH! Outlook Express crashed two times when I tried to reply to
> this mail. :(

Maybe because my previous mail was in bad english shape?!?
Sorry for that, I should never try to answer late, in an hurry or both.

> So, here is a short answer:
> You must tell the IP module which ip address it should use, so you need
> some kind of settings!
> I do not want to use _files_. I want to use the structures. Just the
> Nathan's attributes idea and adapt it to settings for modules. IP would
> use the structure to save nameservers and the ip-address and the netmask.
> I do not want to use settings to save protocol ids! 

Okay, I think I understand better now:
A generic way to exchange "settings", or attributs, between all network modules.
By attaching them to a net packet or a protocols "stack" connection, completed 
and used by each modules who require it.

Or did I miss again the point?

> The PPP module will know which authentication method to use
> and which protocols to support. 

Can't it be made automaticly discovered?
I'm not a PPP expert, even far from it even, but can't you discover what 
kind of authentification protocols (CHAP or PAP, is that them?) to use or are 
supported by PPP server? Trying first CHAP, and fall to PAP if it doesn't work?

On the "which protocol to support" point, why not all? I mean, PPP could 
support IP, IPX, etc, no? I don't see why we should specified for a DialUp 
connection only IP or IPX or both packets should be allowed to pass thru the 
PPP link. If an application send IPX (SPX packet) data and the dialup 
connection is the link on the road, or PPP module know how to encapsulate IPX 
packets and he do it, or he don't and drop it. 
Is it a wrong idea?

But, for a start, let's focus on IP in PPP support.

BTW, sorry if I sounds too newbie on PPP... ;-)
Does someone around have a better PPP technical documentation than just RFCs?
URLs? PDF(s)?

> Maybe you want to use IPX for one of your connections, so you must 
> edit the settings file (the format in which Dial-Up saves connections, 
> like bone.conf or any other connection representation).
> The preflet does not know how to handle IPX because it does not know
> the needed settings like IPX ID (or something similar to an IP address).

This is another point: Network modules (protocols, interfaces, etc) 
GUI settings panels. Currently, we don't have anyone.

What I've in mind once was that each protocol who need or support 
user-settable settings should *publish*, via a separate add-on or thru a simple 
exported funcion (NetConfigView * instanciate_config_view() or like) in the 
stack module itself, the way to display and edit these user-settings. 
The way they're then *set* (live, obvioulsy!) could be proprietary or, better, 
using a generic way, like a standardized ioctl() op-code and argument...

> I do not have any code at the moment because I want to design all
> add-on APIs on paper first. They must work together correctly.

Indeed. Always better to put things first on paper...

> Do you think I should split up the authenticators in authenticator
> protocols and user-password-DBs? 
> I do not want to hard-code things like using
> the users DB for authentication. Or is this okay for you? It would be
> difficult to add support for LDAP, for example.

Keep it simple: consider that PPP authentification protocols 
(CHAP and PAP, no?) are given the user/password to use. They're not the place 
were LDAP credential or whatever should take place, even if such LDAP support 
will get to life on OpenBeOS one day!

> I will soon be ready with the general concept. Then I will start to make
> the API and after that I will start coding the real PPP module.

Feel free to share the general concept and API when you'll have them ready.

-Philippe

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