Point to Point Protocol

I'm responsible for user-ppp under FreeBSD and OpenBSD. My responsibilities don't extend to the pppd kernel implementation (although Netgraph support is on the horizon). Pppd is separately maintained. Check out the current pppd RELNOTES file for details.

Information on user-level ppp and how to set it up can be found at the following locations:

The current sources [UK/US download]

A slightly hacked version of user-ppp from FreeBSD-current that will build on practically any version of FreeBSD or OpenBSD is available. If you're running a version of FreeBSD before 2.2.6, I'd strongly advise installing this version of ppp. Just right-click on US uuencoded download or UK uuencoded download, select "Save As", then from a command prompt type the following:

      $ uudecode src.uue
      $ tar xvfz ppp-*.src.tar.gz
      $ cd ppp-*
      $ make
      $ su
      Password: 
      # make install

If you would rather install ppp under a specific directory hierarchy, (say /usr/local), the following is possible:

      $ uudecode src.uue
      $ tar xvfz ppp-*.src.tar.gz
      $ cd ppp-*
      $ make PPP_CONFDIR=/usr/local/etc
      $ su
      Password: 
      # make -e PPP_CONFDIR=/usr/local/etc BINDIR=/usr/local/sbin MANDIR=/usr/local/man PPP_EXAMPLES=/usr/local/share/examples/ppp

Source and binaries in gzip'd tar format are also available from the US here.

An up-to-date manual page

This page is updated weekly from FreeBSD-current courtesy of Wolfram Schneider. Be careful.... this page may include features and enhancements that aren't available in your local copy of ppp. It may be best to download the latest version of ppp using the instructions above.

The FreeBSD Handbook's PPP section

This contains information for Setting up user PPP. If you want to set up ppp as an internet gateway, this document is a must. Again, be careful. This document describes the current ppp and may include enhancements and modifications not present in your version. If in doubt, download and build the latest version using the instructions above.

The FreeBSD FAQ's PPP section

This contains FAQs for configuring ppp under FreeBSD.

The Pedantic PPP primer

This document provides some very specific information on setting up and connecting a LAN to the Internet using FreeBSD.

The ppp.conf, ppp.linkup, ppp.linkdown and ppp.secret samples from -current

These files give working examples of how to connect to your ISP (The pmdemand label) and how to connect via a null-modem cable (The direct-client and direct-server labels)