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

NAME
     pppctl - PPP control program

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

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

     pppctl is passed at least one argument, specifying the socket on which
     ppp(8) is listening.  Refer to the set server command of ppp(8) for de-
     tails.  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, oth-
     erwise 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(8) 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 (adding a route):

           pppctl 3000 add 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 127.0.0.1\; show route

     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:

     -p passwd    Specify the password required by the ppp(8) daemon.  If this
                  switch is not used, pppctl will prompt for a password once
                  it has successfully connected to ppp(8).

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

     -v           Display all data sent to and received from the ppp(8) dae-
                  mon.  Normally, pppctl displays only non-prompt lines re-
                  ceived.  This option is ignored in interactive mode.

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

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

     EL_EDITOR   The edit mode.  Only values of ``emacs'' and ``vi'' are ac-
                 cepted.  Other values are silently ignored.  This environment
                 variable will override the ``bind -v'' and ``bind -e'' com-
                 mands in ~/.editrc.

EXAMPLES
     If you run ppp(8) in -auto mode, pppctl can be used to automate many fre-
     quent tasks (you can actually control ppp(8) in any mode except interac-
     tive 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 in-
     voked 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 "$@"

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

HISTORY
     The pppctl command first appeared in FreeBSD 2.2.5.

OpenBSD 4.7                      May 31, 2007                                2
