18.4. Creating WvDial Accounts for Nonroot Users

Problem

You want your users to have their own private dial-up accounts, with the configuration file stored in their own home directories.

Solution

First, make sure all the necessary permissions and group ownerships are configured as in Recipe 18.3. Then, WvDial configuration for individual users is done just like in the first two recipes in this chapter, except the WvDial configuration file is stored in their home directories. Create the new configuration file as the user, with the --config option to specify the location of the user's personal configuration file:

	$ wvdialconf --config ~/.wvdialrc

The file can have any name you like; using .wvdialrc creates a default that is called by using the wvdial command with no options. Multiple accounts are created by using Dialer sections, and called just like in the other recipes:

	$ wvdial ISP2

If the file has a different name, it must be called with the --config option:

	$ wvdial --config ~/dialup

If there are multiple Dialer sections in it, call them this way:

	$ wvdialconf --config ~/dialup ISP1

Discussion

Some users like having a desktop icon to click on, instead of running a shell command. It is easy to make one; check the documentation for whatever desktop they are running, as each one is a little different.

For simple individual dial-up accounts, graphical utilities like KPPP and GnomePPP are nice for your users. But, you often still have to make manual edits to /etc/ppp/options or other ppp files. A common one is replacing the auth option in /etc/ppp/options with noauth. It shouldn't even be there, as virtually no commercial ISPs require two-way authentication. Most Linux distributions make noauth the default these days, thankfully.

See Also