[Oberon] PPP and overall Oberon coordination

[eas-lab at absamail.co.za]

peter_easthope wrote:
> es> 2. I (or a collaborator) adds a PPPMain.SetUser with an 
> escape feature.
> 
> Can we keep all the authentication in one 
> command?  Separation of NetSystem.SetUser 
> and PPPMain.SetUser seems unOberonian.

On the contrary, I think the attempt to integrate NetSystem,
Dialer and ppp makes for complexity instead of 'modularlity'.
------

Do we agree on the following:

1. there is possibly a loginID and loginPassword to the ISP 
 *before* entereing the ppp level.

2. these 2 strings can contain any character sequence;
   therefore NO character can serve as an 'escape' char - at this stage.

3. once ppp level is entered 'escape' chars are applicable.

----- this post from 'the authority' relates to the above -----
From: James Carlson <james.d.carlson at sun.com>
Subject: Re: pppd & sighup

...[snip]...
> Any ideas as to a logical way to work through each variable?

Not at this point.  You *MUST* know your correct user name and
passphrase in order to authenticate via CHAP.  If you don't, you're
stuck.

One remaining possibility is that your passphrase contains a special
character, and you don't have it properly quoted.  The one to be
careful with is '\' -- it needs to be doubled (as \\) to pass through
the parser.  (And, of course, it *is* case-sensitive.)

Another remaining possibility is that your peer doesn't actually want
you to use CHAP, but rather to use PAP.  Just change the name of the
file from chap-secrets to pap-secrets to see.

One last possibility is that your chat script is actually causing the
problem.  Most modern ISPs do *not* want you to log in via the chat
script before starting PPP.  Instead, you just dial the number, wait
for CONNECT, and then launch straight into PPP -- no "login:", no
password.

Sorry I can't help more than that ...
----------------  end of expert opinion. -----------

I'm waiting for a written acceptance (or denial) that the pre-ppp
level ISP login and password can't be parsed by using ANY ascii-char
(including""") as a token delimiter.

> es> ... using an escape syntax (%, \, 0x, ... whatever you
> like).  I still think the syntax with ':' and '@' isn't bad.
> 
> My preference is for symmetry between the 
> arguments and to quote each argument rather
> than introduce escape characters which I will 
> forget. This is the syntax in EBNF (to the 
> best of my small skill).

Well, the first consideration must be reliability to work with any
valid input.  This consideration must over-ride symmetry and 
ease of use.


Chris Glur 
--
PS. How IS the UserID and password parsed in the login dialog
with the ISP ?

Apparently by the 'line terminator' -  <CR> and/or <LF>
and perhaps a time pause ?

Can we use this ?