macipgw - Man Page

macipgw [-d debugclass] [-f configfile] [-n nameserver] [-u unprivileged-user] [-z zone] [network] [netmask]

macipgw [-v | -V]

macipgw provides IP connectivity for devices connected through an AppleTalk-only network, i.e. LocalTalk or Apple Remote Access (ARA). macipgw is normally started out of /etc/rc.

MacIP (formerly known as KIP) is a protocol that allows the encapsulation of IP packets in AppleTalk packets. macipgw registers itself as a MacIP gateway on the AppleTalk network and configures and brings up a tunnel interface (see tun(4)). It then forwards IP packets received from the AppleTalk network to the kernel through the tunnel interface. Likewise, IP packets received through the tunnel are forwarded to the AppleTalk device registered for the destination IP address.

Unlike other MacIP gateways, macipgw needs its own IP (sub-)net to operate, and does not use proxy-ARP for the addresses registered. The gateway will always use the first address in the network for the local address, i.e. 192.168.1.1 for the network 192.168.1.0/24.

If present, macipgw reads configuration options from /usr/etc/macipgw.conf (or equivalent pkgconf path.) Command line options will take precedence over configuration file options. See below for an example.

macipgw will log operational messages through syslog(3) under the facility LOG_DAEMON.

-d debugclass

Specifies that the daemon should not fork, and that a trace of all actions be written to stdout. See the source code for useful values of debugclass.

-f configfile

Consult configfile instead of macipgw.conf for the configuration information.

-n nameserver

Specifies the IP address of a DNS name server the AppleTalk devices connected through the gateway should use.

-u unprivileged-user

Drop root privileges and change to user unprivileged-user after the server has started.

-z zone

Specifies that macipgw should register in zone instead of the default zone.

-v | -V

Show version information and exit.

network

Specifies the network number to use for the clients.

netmask

Specifies the netmask for the network.

Example. Example macipgw invocation.

/usr/local/libexec/macipgw -n 192.168.1.1 -z "Remote Users" 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0

Starts macipgw, assigning the Class C network 192.168.1.0 for devices connected through the gateway, specifying that the system macipgw is running on can be used as a name server, and that it should register in the zone Remote Users.

Example. Example macipgw.conf configuration file.

[Global]
network = 192.168.151.0
netmask = 255.255.255.0
nameserver = 8.8.8.8
zone = My Zone
unprivileged user = foobar

/usr/local/libexec/macipgw

tun(4)

ip(4)

atalkd(8)

syslog(3)

syslogd(8)

No information besides the log messages is available on which AppleTalk devices are using the gateway.

Stefan Bethke <Stefan.Bethke@Hanse.DE>

The man page macipgw.conf(5) is an alias of macipgw(8).