Re: [gentoo-user] moving to ADSL

[Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.]

On Wednesday 10 January 2007 12:43, Jorge Almeida 
<jalmeida@××××××××××××.pt> wrote about '[gentoo-user] moving to ADSL':
> I'm about to switch from cable to ADSL anytime soon, and I'm trying to
> prepare the computer for the big change, given that there will be a time
> gap without internet access and that I can't expect any support
> whatsoever from the provider's staff. Of course, I can't do any
> testing...

Firstly, ignore those that want you to buy another piece of hardware to do 
something your computer is perfectly capable of doing.  It's an 
unnecessary expense, and while initial configuration *might* be easier 
you'll pay later because that "simple" interface doesn't expose enough to 
allow you to effectively troubleshoot.

> According to
> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=4&chap=3,
> it seems that it is enough to emerge net-dialup/rp-pppoe, edit
> /etc/conf.d/net and edit /etc/ppp/pap-secrets. Is this correct? I mean,
> what about the contents of /etc/ppp/, like /etc/ppp/pppoe.conf? Aren't
> we supposed to edit at least the latter?
> The handbook says the contents of /etc/ppp/pap-secrets must be
> "username"  *  "password"
> but /usr/share/doc/rp-pppoe-3.8/pap-secrets.gz says it must be like
> bxxxxx@×××××××××.ca     *               my_password     *
> (i.e., another * and no quotes...)
> Can someone clarify this point?

While the handbook sometimes leaves things out, if it explicitly mentioned 
you *do not* need to do something, you won't *in the most likely case*.

That said, we are using ADSL for part of our connection here and I believe 
we are having a Gentoo machine handle to pppoe connection.  I'll see if I 
can't get your an actual configuration (minus passwords, of course) and 
send it to you privately so you have a concrete, working example of pppoe 
in Gentoo.

You might also check the Gentoo wiki, it may have more details than the 
handbook.

> Another matter that is not clear to me: what about  pppoe-start and all
> other commands mentioned in "man pppoe"? I think that
> /etc/init.d/net.eth0 works as a wrapper and will invoke the appropriate
> commands as needed. Is this correct, and can I safely ignore such
> commands?

A properly configured /etc/conf.d/net will let Gentoo manage invoking all 
these commands, yes.

-- 
"If there's one thing we've established over the years,
it's that the vast majority of our users don't have the slightest
clue what's best for them in terms of package stability."
-- Gentoo Developer Ciaran McCreesh