| 1 | wifidog-auth-lite |
|---|
| 2 | |
|---|
| 3 | README Document |
|---|
| 4 | |
|---|
| 5 | Alexandre Carmel-Veilleux |
|---|
| 6 | <acv@miniguru.ca> |
|---|
| 7 | |
|---|
| 8 | INTRODUCTION |
|---|
| 9 | ============ |
|---|
| 10 | |
|---|
| 11 | Wifidog-auth-lite was initially a one-off project for |
|---|
| 12 | Ile Sans Fil. The primary goal was to have NoCatSplash like |
|---|
| 13 | behavior during a single one-day event Ile Sans Fil was being |
|---|
| 14 | paid to provide wifi at. |
|---|
| 15 | This was in the beginning, when the gateway was still |
|---|
| 16 | somewhat unstable and ISF was flat broke money-wise. And so |
|---|
| 17 | we agreed to provide wifi and then when it came to the auth |
|---|
| 18 | server, we weren't ready. |
|---|
| 19 | I volunteered to write this package and did so in a |
|---|
| 20 | few hours, litteraly at the 11th hour in fact. I volunteered |
|---|
| 21 | because at the time I was quite possibly the only one who |
|---|
| 22 | know precisely how little the Gateway needed to get going. |
|---|
| 23 | While the technical consensus was to trim down the Auth |
|---|
| 24 | Server. Whereas I knew that a file containing only the |
|---|
| 25 | following lines would successfully authenticate a user: |
|---|
| 26 | |
|---|
| 27 | ------------------- |
|---|
| 28 | Auth: 1 |
|---|
| 29 | Messages: |Bogus |
|---|
| 30 | ------------------- |
|---|
| 31 | |
|---|
| 32 | And so I wrote that code, the event was held (that |
|---|
| 33 | is a story in its own right) and then the code was quickly |
|---|
| 34 | forgotten, rotted and then broke. It was no longer needed. |
|---|
| 35 | And now, I'm giving the code a second-life as a |
|---|
| 36 | minimal implementation of the WifiDog protocol. The focus |
|---|
| 37 | this time around will be two-fold: |
|---|
| 38 | |
|---|
| 39 | 1. Debugging gateway protocol interactions. |
|---|
| 40 | |
|---|
| 41 | 2. Providing a lightweight PHP4 base for anyone |
|---|
| 42 | to start from when implementing their own |
|---|
| 43 | auth server. |
|---|
| 44 | |
|---|
| 45 | It's important to note that it is not a goal to |
|---|
| 46 | develop an alternate auth server for Ile Sans Fil or even |
|---|
| 47 | a new primary auth server to replace wifidog-auth. Highly |
|---|
| 48 | motivated groupd will find the base useful but users that |
|---|
| 49 | don't possess programming skills will be much better served |
|---|
| 50 | trying to get wifidog-auth working then trying to make |
|---|
| 51 | wifidog-auth-lite behave as they wish. |
|---|
| 52 | Wireless groups however will find that the debugging |
|---|
| 53 | tools included very useful if they're having any network |
|---|
| 54 | communications problem in their environment. |
|---|
| 55 | Incidental goals of this project will include the |
|---|
| 56 | production of a detailed protocol specification and of tools |
|---|
| 57 | to simulate a gateway to test auth servers. |
|---|
