MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

zosodk69 · 2005-01-30 17:03:14

I've been banging around the idea of switching to Arch Linux for about a week now. I've been using using Redhat/Suse for approximately six years now and I'm looking to trim the excess fat. My only hang-up right now is my need to support several large Microsoft networks, of which PPTP VPN access is my only means to get in. For quite a while now Suse has supported MPPE as a kernel module right out of the box. Near as I can tell this isn't the case with Arch Linux which would necessitate a kernel recompile after each kernel upgrade. I'm looking for feedback from anyone else in the same boat as myself. Is it possible to get the kernel source and just compile the MPPE module? Does such a package already exist? Do I need to RTFM?

lucke · 2005-01-30 17:18:34

I have never had any contact with MPPE before, but I can assure you that building your own, patched kernel with ABS is a piece of cake, especially with the PKGBUILD and wiki article that dibble recently made.

After creating the kernel config once, you just stick to it more or less, so it isn't a pain to update your kernel when the new version is released.

Cheers and enjoy your stay, if you wish to anchor your ship around :-)

lucke

ps. Here's the MPPE/C patch.

zosodk69 · 2005-01-30 17:28:43

Wow, that was some fast feedback, thanks lucke (another selling point for this distro).

ylikone · 2005-01-30 19:09:45

I switched from Mandrake to Arch (on my desktop computer, as I am still running debian on my servers). I think it was a great choice... but REALLY ALL LINUX DISTRO'S ARE THE SAME once you have everything installed. It's just a matter of how easy they are to keep maintained and updated. With Arch it's easy.

phrakture · 2005-01-31 16:02:02

zosodk69 wrote:

I've been banging around the idea of switching to Arch Linux for about a week now. I've been using using Redhat/Suse for approximately six years now and I'm looking to trim the excess fat. My only hang-up right now is my need to support several large Microsoft networks, of which PPTP VPN access is my only means to get in. For quite a while now Suse has supported MPPE as a kernel module right out of the box. Near as I can tell this isn't the case with Arch Linux which would necessitate a kernel recompile after each kernel upgrade. I'm looking for feedback from anyone else in the same boat as myself. Is it possible to get the kernel source and just compile the MPPE module? Does such a package already exist? Do I need to RTFM?

There are two ways to support MPPE under linux. Well, first off let me say that try and push for an IPSEC vpn... it's a bit of work from the networking guys, but worth it.
Anyway, MPPE can either be patched into the kernel, or compiled as a kernel module.

The patch it easy, and you can look at the ABS kernel building procedure so that you can add your custom kernel in there...

The module doesn't require custom kernel compilation. However, in my drive to always use the stock kernel (makes my life way easier), I tried to build the extra module... and it was a hassle. If you'd like, I think I can get a few PKGBUILDs together for this (as it requires a few different packages).

Also, you can always just download the source, and do the standard "./configure && make && make install" chain...

zosodk69 · 2005-02-01 16:26:14

Your point is well received (IPSEC). I typically use IPSEC on every new installation I do (although lately I've fallen in love with TINC). My services, however, are contracted so I'm usually stuck with whatever the customer has. For some reason (probably for simplicity sake) Windows admins have a hard-on for PPTP so I have to be able to support it.

I do prefer the idea of using a stock kernel. I've gone down the path of using custom kernels in the past. The very thing that has made me consider Arch is the streamline, simplistic upgrade process. Such a beautiful system is broken when you necessitate a kernel recompile. Right now (on my Suse 9.1 install) as simple "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && reboot" is all that is needed to bring me up to speed.

phrakture: Thankyou for your offer to put the PKGBUILDs together for me. I would feel bad taking you up on this offer as my scheduled Arch install date is over a week from now (the install instructions say I need to find some time to kill so I'm doing the install 02/12 ).

phrakture · 2005-02-01 16:30:09

I'll try and get the kernel module package together... it's easier than a custom kernel - it's a mess to compile (IIRC), but your side should be easy... just add my repo to your pacman.conf and grab the module when I'm done... I'll post here when I am able... however, I don't have the internet at home until next week sometime, so it may be a bit.

Haakon · 2005-02-21 23:55:06

I need MPPE support too now, which means I'm in the horrible situation of having to build custom kernels until the end of time. For now, I modified the standard kernel26 package, but I'm not looking forward to kernel updates. A seperate module package which was timely updated to new kernels (which I suppose will be necessary) would be super if you want to undertake that, but of course the perfect solution would be to include the MPPE patch in the kernel26 package (it's not a vanilla kernel anymore anyway . Oh well.

EDIT: Where's my manners, here's my modified kernel26 PKGBUILD, for kernel 2.6.10.

# $Id: PKGBUILD,v 1.40 2005/01/18 18:16:07 judd Exp $
# Maintainer: judd <jvinet@zeroflux.org>
pkgname=kernel26
pkgver=2.6.10
pkgrel=3
pkgdesc="The Linux Kernel and modules (IDE support)"
url="http://www.kernel.org"
backup=('boot/kconfig26')
depends=('module-init-tools')
install=kernel26.install
source=(ftp://ftp.no.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-$pkgver.tar.bz2 
  config logo_linux_clut224.ppm 
  http://www.acm.rpi.edu/~dilinger/patches/2.6.10/as2/patch-2.6.10-as2.gz 
  http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/lenb/acpi/patches/release/2.6.10/acpi-20041210-2.6.10-rc3.diff.bz2 
  http://www.polbox.com/h/hs001/linux-$pkgver-mppe-mppc-1.2.patch.gz)
md5sums=('cffcd2919d9c8ef793ce1ac07a440eda' '438e55378c1b7fa700b3f8695cc895f7'
         '5a62bcc7e96601052c7405459b483826' 'd4e6c6c7352147e908d42276e24e0833'
         '44c1ffefa99be8f3ea6d956e1fd7d46c' 'acbed26b991738b6fe82f440ff9480f5')

build() {
  cd $startdir/src/linux-$pkgver
  # mppe-mppc patch
  patch -Np1 -i ../linux-$pkgver-mppe-mppc-1.2.patch || return 1
  echo "CONFIG_PPP_MPPE_MPPC=m" >> ../config
  patch -Np1 -i ../acpi-20041210-2.6.10-rc3.diff || return 1
  # various fixes by Andres Salomon
  patch -Np1 -i ../patch-$pkgver-as2 || return 1
  # remove the -as2 tag
  sed -i 's|^EXTRAVERSION = .*$|EXTRAVERSION =|g' Makefile
  # Arch logo!
  cp ../logo_linux_clut224.ppm drivers/video/logo/
  # get rid of the 'i' in i686
  carch=`echo $CARCH | sed 's|i||'`
  cat ../config | sed "s|#CARCH#|$carch|g" >./.config
  # build the full kernel version to use in pathnames
  . ./.config
  _kernver="${pkgver}${CONFIG_LOCALVERSION}"
  # load configuration
  yes "" | make config
  # build!
  make clean bzImage modules || return 1
  mkdir -p $startdir/pkg/{lib/modules,boot}
  make INSTALL_MOD_PATH=$startdir/pkg modules_install || return 1
  cp System.map $startdir/pkg/boot/System.map26
  cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage $startdir/pkg/boot/vmlinuz26
  install -D -m644 Makefile 
    $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/Makefile
  install -D -m644 .config 
    $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/.config
  install -D -m644 .config $startdir/pkg/boot/kconfig26
  mkdir -p $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/include
  mkdir -p $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/arch/i386/kernel
  for i in acpi asm-generic asm-i386 config linux math-emu net pcmcia scsi video; do
    cp -a include/$i $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/include/
  done
  # copy files necessary for later builds, like nvidia and vmware
  cp -a scripts $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}
  mkdir -p $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/.tmp_versions
  cp arch/i386/Makefile $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/arch/i386/
  cp arch/i386/kernel/asm-offsets.s 
    $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/arch/i386/kernel/
  # copy in Kconfig files
  for i in `find . -name "Kconfig*"`; do
    mkdir -p $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/`echo $i | sed 's|/Kconfig.*||'`
    cp $i $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/$i
  done
  cd $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}/include && ln -s asm-i386 asm
  chown -R root.root $startdir/pkg/usr/src/linux-${_kernver}
  cd $startdir/pkg/lib/modules/${_kernver} && 
    (rm -f source build; ln -sf /usr/src/linux-${_kernver} build)
}

gauteh · 2008-03-17 16:49:42

Hey, are there any news on this? Does anybody have a PKGBUILD for a module?

- gaute

neotuli · 2008-03-19 04:37:20

Actually, it's included with kernel26 nowadays...

$ pacman -Ql kernel26|grep mppe
kernel26 /lib/modules/2.6.24-ARCH/kernel/drivers/net/ppp_mppe.ko
kernel26 /usr/src/linux-2.6.24-ARCH/include/config/ppp/mppe.h

There's also a related package in the AUR, however the comments seem to say the project might be dead. http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=3026

gauteh · 2008-03-19 15:21:15

neotuli wrote:

Actually, it's included with kernel26 nowadays...
$ pacman -Ql kernel26|grep mppe
kernel26 /lib/modules/2.6.24-ARCH/kernel/drivers/net/ppp_mppe.ko
kernel26 /usr/src/linux-2.6.24-ARCH/include/config/ppp/mppe.h
There's also a related package in the AUR, however the comments seem to say the project might be dead. http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=3026

That is only for the MPPE part, I need MPPC.. it is however badly patented and the original patch/module, http://mppe-mppc.alphacron.de/, is discontinued since 2.6.13. There exists an updated version for 2.6.23 made by Devil Linux: http://devil-linux.linjection.org/devel … .patch.bz2 .. trying to port it to 2.6.24, but since I am in no way a skilled kernel hacker it hasn't payed much off.. yet.

This might be a bit off-topic for this thread, but mppe was provided together with mppc before mppe was included in the kernel.

- gaute

gauteh · 2008-03-19 20:24:53

I managed to merge it and updated the kernel PKGBUILD and ppp PKGBUILD to support mppc, unsure how stable it is, but it worked. See http://gaute.vetsj.com/?p=69 for patches or tarballs.

- gaute

orasis · 2008-03-23 21:54:54

ylikone wrote:

I switched from Mandrake to Arch (on my desktop computer, as I am still running debian on my servers). I think it was a great choice... but REALLY ALL LINUX DISTRO'S ARE THE SAME once you have everything installed. It's just a matter of how easy they are to keep maintained and updated. With Arch it's easy.

Nonsense.. Not 'all' Linux distro's are 'the same'; they may share similarities but they are not identical, nor do they perform equally.

Some have different Kernel sets others have more services installed and enabled by default and some are noticeably slower than others even with a 'base' install - compare a 'base' install of Debian Vs Slackware or Arch Debian is much much slower especially on a lower-end i686 like a PIII.

So again similar but not identical.

gauteh · 2008-03-23 21:56:49

orasis wrote:

Nonsense.. Not 'all' Linux distro's are 'the same'; they may share similarities but they are not identical, nor do they perform equally...

flamebait raw swollen - but you are right

Arch Linux

#1 2005-01-30 17:03:14

MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#2 2005-01-30 17:18:34

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#3 2005-01-30 17:28:43

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#4 2005-01-30 19:09:45

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#5 2005-01-31 16:02:02

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#6 2005-02-01 16:26:14

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#7 2005-02-01 16:30:09

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#8 2005-02-21 23:55:06

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#9 2008-03-17 16:49:42

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#10 2008-03-19 04:37:20

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#11 2008-03-19 15:21:15

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#12 2008-03-19 20:24:53

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#13 2008-03-23 21:54:54

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

#14 2008-03-23 21:56:49

Re: MPPE: Deciding whether to make the Arch Linux switch

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