Run a script to automate PPP connections

Sep 04, '02 09:40:00AM

Contributed by: fold

This will be of interest to those of you whose ISPs require a command line login. The login could be automated via a script in OS 7/8/9, but not in OS X prior to 10.2. Until 10.2, you had to manually enter username, password, and possibly more in a Terminal window. A number of people in several OS X forums have noticed that in the 10.2 Network preferences pane under PPP Options there is a new "Terminal Script" pop-down. Normally it is dimmed out and unusable. Trouble is, there is nothing in Mac Help or on the Apple Web site explaining how to use it. Thanks to a lead posted by Kai Kniepkamp in Apple's OS X forum, here's how:

Create a new folder in /Library/Terminal Scripts. I set the ownership and permissions on mine to match the rest of the folders in /Library: Owner "system" with Read & Write permissions, group "admin" with read & write permissions, and read only permission for Other. This may not be necessary, but I'll leave it to others to test that.

If you already have a PPP connection script (perhaps provided by your ISP or created by the OS 8/9 Remote Access control panel), copy it to the new /Library/Terminal Scripts folder.

Now open the Networks preferences pane, click the PPP tab, then click the PPP Options button. Pop down the Terminal Script menu to select your script. DO NOT enable the "Connect using terminal window" option. You don't need it with a terminal script.

If you don't already have a script, the simplest way to create one pretty much guaranteed to work with your ISP is to use the OS 9 Remote Access control panel's ability to create on for you on the fly. If you don't know how to do that, read article number 24078 in the Apple Support knowledge base.


Panther proven!

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