From owner-freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Mar 15 23:13:47 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 23FFF106566C for ; Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:13:47 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rwatson@FreeBSD.org) Received: from cyrus.watson.org (cyrus.watson.org [209.31.154.42]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 11BBF8FC13 for ; Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:13:47 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rwatson@FreeBSD.org) Received: from fledge.watson.org (fledge.watson.org [209.31.154.41]) by cyrus.watson.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EA59146B54; Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:13:45 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:13:45 +0000 (GMT) From: Robert Watson X-X-Sender: robert@fledge.watson.org To: Kai Lockwood In-Reply-To: <200803141803.12974.kailockwood@gmail.com> Message-ID: <20080315231137.E80785@fledge.watson.org> References: <200803141803.12974.kailockwood@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Cc: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Subject: Re: SLIP slipping away X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Networking and TCP/IP with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:13:47 -0000 On Fri, 14 Mar 2008, Kai Lockwood wrote: > I am having difficulty setting up a SLIP connection between a Debian 4.0 box > and FreeBSD 7.0-STABLE. I have enabled the sl driver in the kernel. I have > tried using slattach on /dev/cuad0 (usually "slattach -s 115200 /dev/cuad0) > only to watch slattach immediately die with no output as to why. If I give > the -l option it creates the sl0 interface but will not accept traffic. > Reading through the years old FAQs states that a 'netstat -i' with the sl > driver installed should show sl interfaces but netstat does not list any sl > interfaces. I have tried to load the kernel module if_sl but I have had no > success. > > Has anyone on this list had any success with using SLIP? A few years ago, I tried to find someone to test SLIP locking patches without much luck. I know of no specific reason why it shouldn't work other than age and lack of testing. If we want to continue to support SLIP, my suggestion would be that we move the implementation to userspace with if_tun, avoiding the complexities and inter-dependencies of hooking SLIP into the tty line discipline code in the kernel. If something has broken, it might well relate to that complexity. Do you know of anyone using SLIP in production who would be willing to do the legwork on testing, etc, or is this a casual "I wonder if SLIP still works" sort of thing? I don't actually know of any sites still using it, and I've not seen a report of successful or failed use in years... Robert N M Watson Computer Laboratory University of Cambridge