"The Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun!"

A bit more about C-Kermit

From its author.

From Frank da Cruz on Mon, 21 Feb 2000

I notice you've got a lot about Kermit in your page:

http://www.linuxprogramming.com/mirrors/LDP/LDP/LG/issue32/tag_modem.html

Including:

Another simple testing trick is to use 'minicom' to dial the phone and establish your connection (log in). Then use the "Quit without Resetting the Line" option (using the [Ctrl]+[A], [Q] key sequence). This should dump you out of minicom and back to a shell prompt without disconnecting your modem. (It is then possible to invoke pppd on that line --- using an alternative version of the ISP options file without any "connect" directive).

That trick doesn't work with kermit --- it won't exit without resetting the communications line. From what Frank de la Cruz tells me you can't use C-Kermit as a replacement for 'chat' because of this. Basically he says it violates some programming standards to do this. (I still don't understand that --- but it's not currently a priority to me. If someone understands it and wants to explain --- write an article and send me a copy).

The explanation is that when a UNIX process exits, all the files that it opened (and in UNIX, devices count as files) are closed by UNIX itself. There's nothing the application can do to prevent it. The only way Minicom could keep the connection open when it exits is by configuring the modem to ignore DTR, but you could do that with Kermit too.

But the open device was passed to chat by the parent process, pppd, which is still running. I guess that's what chat (or the PPP daemon) is doing.

Anyway, C-Kermit 7.0, which was announced 1 Jan 2000:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit.html

now incorporates a built-in method for PPP dialing, which you can read about here:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/case13.html

I didn't see that, though I know that I did mention something about the new Kerberos features in one of my recent issues.

It doesn't require any kludges with the modem or cables.

- Frank P.S. Also note spelling of name: "da Cruz".

Sorry. I should have double checked that. I simply mis-remembered it.

PS: I'm the same guy that wrote an article for sysadmin Magazine about C-Kermit as a replacement for telnet, rlogin et al, back in about '97

You and I corresponded several times back then.

Copyright © 2000, James T. Dennis
Published in The Linux Gazette Issue 51 March 2000

HTML transformation by Heather Stern of Tuxtops, Inc., http://www.tuxtops.com/

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