Very Computer

I'm trying to get hooked up to my ISP with Linux and PPP, but I keep
getting weird PAP authentication errors, regardless of what I try.

My current configuration: I'm running RedHat v5.0 with ppp-2.3.3-2 (I
replaced the stock v5.0 ppp with this, because I heard the ppp package
that came with RedHat was buggy.) I'm trying to connect to my ISP (Europa)
with this script:

-rwxr-xr-x   1 root     root    /etc/ppp/europa

#!/bin/sh
/usr/sbin/pppd -d connect "chat -v '' ATZ OK ATDT2226800 CONNECT"

...using these options:

-rw-r--r--   1 root     daemon  /etc/ppp/options

/dev/modem
115200
crtscts
defaultroute
noipdefault
asyncmap 0
name basehead
lock

...and this pap-secrets file:

-rw-------   1 root     daemon  /etc/ppp/pap-secrets

basehead        *       password-removed

(The three items above are seperated with tabs.)

I run my europa script as root, and all goes well until:

May  9 16:34:10 solidarity chat[588]: CONNECT
May  9 16:34:10 solidarity chat[588]:  -- got it
May  9 16:34:11 solidarity pppd[587]: Using interface ppp0
May  9 16:34:11 solidarity pppd[587]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/modem
May  9 16:34:12 solidarity pppd[587]: Remote message:
May  9 16:34:12 solidarity pppd[587]: PAP authentication failed
May  9 16:34:12 solidarity pppd[587]: LCP terminated by peer
May  9 16:34:15 solidarity pppd[587]: Connection terminated.
May  9 16:34:15 solidarity pppd[587]: Hangup (SIGHUP)

My username and password are both correct, and I know that my ISP uses
PAP. Win95 worked just fine with the same username and password, using
PAP, yadda yadda.

Initially, I tried to get this working using RedHat's "netcfg" tool and
the stock scripts (/etc/ppp/sysconfig/network-scripts), and I had the
_exact_ same problem. I then upgraded my ppp package and tried to keep it
simple by just writing a script myself, but it didn't do any good, as you
can see.

I have a feeling I'm missing something horribly obvious here, but I've
read the PPP HOWTO and the PPP FAQ and I've tweaked lots of settings, all
to no avail. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks in advance,

Michael

--
A Town Called Malice
http://www.europa.com/~basehead/bbs

: I'm trying to get hooked up to my ISP with Linux and PPP, but I keep
: getting weird PAP authentication errors, regardless of what I try.

: My current configuration: I'm running RedHat v5.0 with ppp-2.3.3-2 (I
: replaced the stock v5.0 ppp with this, because I heard the ppp package
: that came with RedHat was buggy.) I'm trying to connect to my ISP (Europa)
: with this script:

I finally got this working yesterday, so I thought I'd post a followup,
just in case anyone was interested.

I went back to using RedHat's netcfg with my new version of PPP, and had
the same PAP authentication problem.

At this point I was desperate. I noticed that my password on my ISP
contained some special characters (a / and a \). I logged into my shell
account and changed the password to something simpler, containing only
letters and numbers. Then I changed the "secret" in /etc/ppp/pap-secrets
and tried to log back in, and lo and behold, it worked.

Why? I don't know. The old password, with the "/" and "\", was working
fine with Windows 95 PPP just a week ago, right up until I wiped my HD
and installed Linux.

Could there be some bug in the PPP implementation, where if a password
has a certain character in a certain place, it won't authenticate
properly? I encountered a bug like this in an old version of Trumpet
Winsock for Windows v3.1 a looonnng time ago.

Oh well, I'm just happy to have it working. Still, I wish I knew what
the problem was.

--
A Town Called Malice
http://www.europa.com/~basehead/bbs

| At this point I was desperate. I noticed that my password on my ISP
| contained some special characters (a / and a \). I logged into my shell
| account and changed the password to something simpler, containing only
| letters and numbers. Then I changed the "secret" in /etc/ppp/pap-secrets
| and tried to log back in, and lo and behold, it worked.
|
| Why? I don't know. The old password, with the "/" and "\", was working
| fine with Windows 95 PPP just a week ago, right up until I wiped my HD
| and installed Linux.

Backslash is used as a escape in some places, chances are that secrets
is one of them. Just using two \\ combination would probably have
worked.
--

"In elementary school, in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a
single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic? Do tall
people burn slower?"
                --Warren Hutcherson