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HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
KDE Posted by Santhosh Joseph on Wednesday November 21, @09:02PM
from the dept.
Allow specific users to use KPPP to dialup and connect to internet
I'am a great fan of KDE and especially the KPPP programme as it offers a nice range of features like Accounting, Pre-Connection/Post-Connection command execution etc.

Note : If you have setup firewall rules and or scripts to work with the command line ppp, do take the necessary precaution !

KPPP by default doesn't permit non-root users to connect to the internet. The plan is to setup a group of users and permit the users in the group to use KPPP. Here's how to do it :

1. Add a new group say, dialout :

pw groupadd dialout

2. Add users say, user1 to the group :

pw groupmod dialout -M user1

3. set the permissions :

chown root.dialout /usr/local/bin/kppp
chmod 4750 /usr/local/bin/kppp

4. Create a file /etc/kppp.allow and add users, (who are authorised to do the dialup; user1 in our case) one on each line. There's NO need to add root user here. You can use # for comments. Spaces are also allowed.

5. create a file /etc/ppp/options if not already present

That's all. Setup KPPP (modem port, username, password etc.) as user1, as you would as root and try connecting. You should now be able to use KPPP as user1. Happy Browsing !

PS: Don't forget to post your comments.

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    The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them.
    ( Add a Reply )

    Over 10 comments listed. Printing out index only.
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by Lailoken on Monday June 24, @12:15PM
    Sorry... this does not work.

    Seems like linux is still user-unfriendly. Or am I missing something? I just want a normal user to connect to the internet? Too much to ask? -sigh-

    Anyone have any info, here follows the result of the attempt:

    [ma@localhost ma]$ kppp

    (process:2052): Gtk-WARNING **: This process is currently running setuid or setgid.
    This is not a supported use of GTK+. You must create a helper
    program instead. For further details, see:

    http://www.gtk.org/setuid.html

    Refusing to initialize GTK+.
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by kovary on Monday July 29, @07:51PM
    This only happens if you launch kppp as root. Launch it as a normal user and then it will prompt you for the root password.
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by Karel Dohnal on Sunday December 01, @11:20PM
    http://devel-home.kde.org/~kppp/faq.html An other way how to connect to the ISP without root password.
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by Azureash on Tuesday February 11, @07:37PM
    This article doesn't address the most frequent issue with using kppp as a non-root user, which is PAM. The problem is that KDE is launching kppp through something called consolehelper, which is a PAM application (Pluggable Authentication Module, errr..something.) To fix this:

    1) Open /etc/pam.d/kppp (the kppp PAM conf file.) You should see a line (often on line 4 on RH installs) that reads:

    auth required /lib/security/pam_stack.so service=system-auth

    2) Change "required" to "sufficient".
    3) Save and close the file.

    Voila! Any user can now use kppp, without being prompted for the root password.

    Note: If you still want to place some limits on who uses kppp, create an /etc/kppp.allow file (if one doesn't already exists) and put the names of the users you want to access kppp in it.
    Sample:

    # /etc/kppp.allow
    # comment lines like this are ignored
    # as well as empty lines

    sally
    fred

    In closing, I'd say that PAM is a cool program, but was the WRONG choice for launching kppp...
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by Manuel Montoya on Tuesday October 28, @07:36AM
    I needed comment the "auth" line in /etc/ppp/options to get the connection. In debian, the system create the "dip" group for ppp connections so in this article you must add the normal user to dip group rather than dialout group. Cheers
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by It's 2004! on Wednesday March 10, @01:09PM
    You guys think you can get this thing into the hands of millions? This setup of KPPP is like going back to 1984. I have a user-id, password, and phone number of my IPS I have been using for the past five years. I can go anywhere on any Windows PC and get connected to the internet. And THAT is the objective! Why do I have to use KPPP? Why can't the browser just have a communication tab to select my modem, add the ISP# and my credentials? Who the hell on earth is going through all this crap just to dial the internet in 2004? You guys in prison or what? You talk about usability? I would never swear about the reliability of windows!! But you people got to have your head up somewhere if you think LINUX is anywhere usable!
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by Wilhelm Luttermann on Wednesday April 28, @03:11PM
    I have kppp running on 2 laptops with the same Mandrake 9.2.On both it has the same configuration. On one (the Dell Inspiron 8000) it works correctly, on the other (Toshiba Satellite A25) it does the number and connection, but then puts out some pages of unreadable signs, then cuts the connection. But the ethernet installed in this notebook works fine,but where I am normally, I have no ethernet-connection. Because I thought that the ethernet causes the dysfunction, I disabled the mounting of ethernet at start of the computer, but this had no effect. I should be glad to hear a council from you. Wilhelm Luttermann.
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by leenux on Tuesday July 19, @06:58AM
    I found this is more useful under Debian GUN/Linux http://www.cyberciti.biz/nixcraft/vivek/blogger/2005/07/allow-normal-user-to-dialout-internet.html
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by leenux on Tuesday July 19, @06:58AM
    I found this is more useful under Debian GUN/Linux http://www.cyberciti.biz/nixcraft/vivek/blogger/2005/07/allow-normal-user-to-dialout-internet.html
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by leenux on Tuesday July 19, @06:58AM
    I found this is more useful under Debian GUN/Linux http://www.cyberciti.biz/nixcraft/vivek/blogger/2005/07/allow-normal-user-to-dialout-internet.html
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
    Re: HOWTO : Setup KPPP to Dialup as Normal User
    by lv on Tuesday September 08, @11:23PM
    Create a file /etc/kppp.allow and add users, (who are authorised to do the dialup; user1 in our case) one on each line. There's NO need to add root user here. You can use # for comments. Spaces are also allowed. 5. create a file /etc/ppp/options if not already present That's all. Setup KPPP (modem port, username, password etc.) as user1, as you would as root and try connecting. You should now be able to use KPPP as user1. Happy Browsing ! PS: Don't forget to post your comments.
    [ Add a Reply to this ]
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