xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/pppctl/pppctl.8 (revision 5521ff5a4d1929056e7ffc982fac3341ca54df7c)
1.\" $FreeBSD$
2.Dd June 26, 1997
3.Os FreeBSD
4.Dt PPPCTL 8
5.Sh NAME
6.Nm pppctl
7.Nd PPP control program
8.Sh SYNOPSIS
9.Nm
10.Op Fl v
11.Op Fl t Ar n
12.Op Fl p Ar passwd
13.Xo Oo Ar host : Oc Ns
14.Ar Port | LocalSocket
15.Xc
16.Oo
17.Sm off
18.Ar command Oo ; Ar command Oc Ar ...
19.Sm on
20.Oc
21.Sh DESCRIPTION
22This program provides command line control of the
23.Xr ppp 8
24daemon.  Its primary use is to facilitate simple scripts that
25control a running daemon.
26.Pp
27.Nm Pppctl
28is passed at least one argument, specifying the socket on which
29.Nm ppp
30is listening.  Refer to the
31.Sq set server
32command of
33.Nm ppp
34for details.  If the socket contains a leading '/', it
35is taken as an
36.Dv AF_LOCAL
37socket.  If it contains a colon, it is treated as a
38.Ar host : Ns Ar port
39pair, otherwise it is treated as a TCP port specification on the
40local machine (127.0.0.1).  Both the
41.Ar host
42and
43.Ar port
44may be specified numerically if you wish to avoid a DNS lookup
45or don't have an entry for the given port in
46.Pa /etc/services .
47.Pp
48All remaining arguments are concatenated to form the
49.Ar command Ns (s)
50that will be sent to the
51.Nm ppp
52daemon.  If any semi-colon characters are found, they are treated as
53.Ar command
54delimiters, allowing more than one
55.Ar command
56in a given
57.Sq session .
58For example:
59.Bd -literal -offset indent
60pppctl 3000 set timeout 300\\; show timeout
61.Ed
62.Pp
63Don't forget to escape or quote the ';' as it is a special character
64for most shells.
65.Pp
66If no
67.Ar command
68arguments are given,
69.Nm
70enters interactive mode, where commands are read from standard input.
71When reading commands, the
72.Xr editline 3
73library is used, allowing command-line editing (with
74.Xr editrc 5
75defining editing behaviour).  The history size
76defaults to
77.Em 20 lines .
78.Pp
79The following command line options are available:
80.Bl -tag -width Ds
81.It Fl v
82Display all data sent to and received from the
83.Nm ppp
84daemon.  Normally,
85.Nm
86displays only non-prompt lines received.  This option is ignored in
87interactive mode.
88.It Fl t Ar n
89Use a timeout of
90.Ar n
91instead of the default 2 seconds when connecting.  This may be required
92if you wish to control a daemon over a slow (or even a dialup) link.
93.It Fl p Ar passwd
94Specify the password required by the
95.Nm ppp
96daemon.  If this switch is not used,
97.Nm
98will prompt for a password once it has successfully connected to
99.Nm ppp .
100.El
101.Pp
102.Sh EXAMPLES
103If you run
104.Nm ppp
105in
106.Fl auto
107mode,
108.Nm
109can be used to automate many frequent tasks (you can actually control
110.Nm ppp
111in any mode except interactive mode).  Use of the
112.Fl p
113option is discouraged (even in scripts that aren't readable by others)
114as a
115.Xr ps 1
116listing may reveal your secret.
117.Pp
118The best way to allow easy, secure
119.Nm
120access is to create a local server socket in
121.Pa /etc/ppp/ppp.conf
122(in the correct section) like this:
123.Bd -literal -offset indent
124set server /var/run/internet "" 0177
125.Ed
126.Pp
127This will instruct
128.Nm ppp
129to create a local domain socket, with srw------- permissions and no
130password, allowing access only to the user that invoked
131.Nm ppp .
132Refer to the
133.Xr ppp 8
134man page for further details.
135.Pp
136You can now create some easy-access scripts.  To connect to the internet:
137.Bd -literal -offset indent
138#! /bin/sh
139test $# -eq 0 && time=300 || time=$1
140exec pppctl /var/run/internet set timeout $time\\; dial
141.Ed
142.Pp
143To disconnect:
144.Bd -literal -offset indent
145#! /bin/sh
146exec pppctl /var/run/internet set timeout 300\\; close
147.Ed
148.Pp
149To check if the line is up:
150.Bd -literal -offset indent
151#! /bin/sh
152pppctl -p '' -v /var/run/internet quit | grep ^PPP >/dev/null
153if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
154  echo Link is up
155else
156  echo Link is down
157fi
158.Ed
159.Pp
160You can even make a generic script:
161.Bd -literal -offset indent
162#! /bin/sh
163exec pppctl /var/run/internet "$@"
164.Ed
165.Pp
166You could also use
167.Nm
168to control when dial-on-demand works.  Suppose you want
169.Nm ppp
170to run all the time, but you want to prevent dial-out between 8pm and 8am
171each day.  However, any connections active at 8pm should continue to remain
172active until they are closed or naturally time out.
173.Pp
174A
175.Xr cron 8
176entry for 8pm which runs
177.Bd -literal -offset indent
178pppctl /var/run/internet set filter dial 0 deny 0 0
179.Ed
180.Pp
181will block all further dial requests, and the corresponding 8am entry
182.Bd -literal -offset indent
183pppctl /var/run/internet set filter dial -1
184.Ed
185.Pp
186will allow them again.
187.Sh ENVIRONMENT
188The following environment variables are understood by
189.Nm
190when in interactive mode:
191.Bl -tag -width XXXXXXXXXX
192.It Dv EL_SIZE
193The number of history lines.  The default is 20.
194.It Dv EL_EDITOR
195The edit mode.  Only values of "emacs" and "vi" are accepted.  Other values
196are silently ignored.  This environment variable will override the
197.Ar bind -v
198and
199.Ar bind -e
200commands in
201.Pa ~/.editrc .
202.El
203.Pp
204.Sh SEE ALSO
205.Xr ps 1 ,
206.Xr editline 3 ,
207.Xr editrc 5 ,
208.Xr services 5 ,
209.Xr ppp 8
210.Sh HISTORY
211The
212.Nm
213command first appeared in
214.Fx 2.2.5 .
215