I first came across KDE in 2002 which I acquired Mandrake v7. It was my first Linux distribution and then and is the case now, it isn't too easy to do, I was impressed.

As one who used to write code in the late 60's and early seventies (Assembly, BASIC, Cobol and Fortran) experience repeatedly showed me that those who write code should be the last ones to write the "How To's" regarding their work. Code writers should stick to what they do best; writing code. Let others do the manuals, let others generate, write up the "How To's" and KPPP is a case in point.

On this end I've recently acquired Slackware v13-64 and after installation and almost as expected, I was faced with the KPPP problem of "MODEM NOT FOUND" and that classic "MODEM BUSY" notice from KPPP.

Figuring out how the on-board modem was identified by KPPP was simple and straight forward. It took a few tries but I got it but finding out where that KPPP file was, a file whose attributes needed to be changed with the BASH commands of CHOWN and CHMOD proved to be a real annoyance, as well as time consuming.

While the KDE authors were correct in that the attributes of the file KPPP had to be changed with CHOWN and CHMOD, the KDE authors failed to be sufficiently specific as to just where in the myriad of sub-directories the KPPP file in question was to be found. If memory serves me correctly there is not one but three (3) KPPP files in the Suse v10 distrbution; none of which are Primary File Folders. These KPPP files are "buried" in different sub-directories and with KDE4, it appears to be no different.

Today, while looking up KPPP in an effort to get my modem working with Slackware, once again I've encountered the same, age old, annoying problem. The KDE directions in question specifically state that one should go to "$kdedir/bin/kppp" and as a "Super User" or "su" employ the CHOWN and CHMOD commands to change the KPPP file attributes - but I challenge any of you at KDE to find a primary directory called "$KDEDIR" in Slackware or for that matter, in Mandriva or Suse v11.1. The "$KDEDIR" referred to by the KDE authors is well "hidden" and irrespective of the well intended directions offered by the KDE/KPPP author(s) those directions lack the specificity anyone just starting with Linux and who is not a code writer must have in order to minimize the "transition shock" from Window$ to what is otherwise a superb Operating System.

So I ask you at KDE, just where is this "$KDEDIR" as mentioned in the KPPP help files?

tyc

printenv $KDEDIR tells me, among lots of other things, that

KDEDIRS=/usr

Is that what you want? Of course you should check your own.

I'll look forward to seeing a write-up of KPPP on userbase.kde.org when you've got this sorted The current page is a four-line introduction.

KPPP is mostly unmaintained, however...

Note that the installation process usually grants the needed kppp components the appropriate permissions, it is probable your distribution created the packages as an unprivileged user, leading to effectively broken packages with regards to kppp operating.

bcooksley wrote:Note that the installation process usually grants the needed kppp components the appropriate permissions, it is probable your distribution created the packages as an unprivileged user, leading to effectively broken packages with regards to kppp operating.

Do understand, I'm not a KPPP expert but from what little I know of these things I think you're wrong - at least this time anyway.

While experience is showing me so far that Slackware is and for want of a better term, a freak Linux distribution, the problems I'm seeing with KPPP are strikingly familiar, based on those encountered with Suse v9.1 and v10.0, none of which were the fault of the Suse distributions. So in this instance and at least for now I'm not so sure the problem(s) encountered are directly distribution related but indirectly, quite possibly; it's a case of finding out just where ALL of those KDE4 folders are and suspecision has it that there are three, possibly four, of which only one is applicable.

Thanks for the comeback though. It's appreciated.

tyc

annew wrote:printenv $KDEDIR tells me, among lots of other things, that

KDEDIRS=/usr

Is that what you want? Of course you should check your own.

I'll look forward to seeing a write-up of KPPP on userbase.kde.org when you've got this sorted The current page is a four-line introduction.

I'll give that a try ... and thanks for the tip. It's appreciated.

tyc

einar wrote:KPPP is mostly unmaintained, however...

Unmaintained? Probably because it works so well - once you get it properly set up. Years of hands-on experience has proven this to me.

Thanks for the comeback though. It's appreciated.

tyc

According to the CMakeLists.txt file used by CMake when building and installing KPPP, the executable will be set as setuid on installation.

Code: Select all

install(TARGETS kppp PERMISSIONS SETUID OWNER_EXECUTE OWNER_WRITE OWNER_READ GROUP_EXECUTE GROUP_READ WORLD_EXECUTE WORLD_READ  DESTINATION ${BIN_INSTALL_DIR} )

Note that this may not have been the case with SUSE 9.x.

bcooksley wrote:According to the CMakeLists.txt file used by CMake when building and installing KPPP, the executable will be set as setuid on installation.

Code: Select all

install(TARGETS kppp PERMISSIONS SETUID OWNER_EXECUTE OWNER_WRITE OWNER_READ GROUP_EXECUTE GROUP_READ WORLD_EXECUTE WORLD_READ  DESTINATION ${BIN_INSTALL_DIR} )

Note that this may not have been the case with SUSE 9.x.

You lost me there ... but then I'm not a Linux "expert". On this end I've been using Linux since March of 2002, in a business enviornment; Writer, Calc, KPPP and the like. My skills regading bash and the myriad of commands available by way of Linux are limited, growing but still, limited.

I've recently switched OS to Slackware - it seems to run a lot smoother than either Mandriva or Suse but it's not perfect either.

For what it's worth, I have a backup laptop and want to install Open Suse v11.1 on it. In fact tried several times, with no success from the view of getting KPPP up and running. Perhaps you know the answer to this ... with KDE4 and Open Suse v11.1, where is the KPPP file I'm so famiiar with, with Suse v10.0. Regarding KDE4, it's not in the same place. Any ideas where it is within Open Suse v11.1?

Thanks for the comback. It's appreciated.

tyc

Running "kppp" on the console should work... you may need to install the package "kppp" first using YaST though.