                                README

                Information about the net-tools package                                
NET-TOOLS	A collection of programs that form the base set of the
		NET-3 networking distribution for the Linux operating
		system.

This package includes the important tools for controlling the network
subsystem of the Linux kernel.  This includes arp, hostname, ifconfig,
netstat, rarp and route.

Please include the output of "program --version" when reporting bugs.


Contents:
  
   README		This file.

   README.ipv6		Notes for people hacking IPv6.

   INSTALLING		Installation instructions.

   COPYING		Your free copy of the GNU Public License.

   TODO			Some things that need to be done.


                          Notes
                          -----

This is net-tools 1.45, a maintenance release to fix some bugs with new
kernels and earlier net-tools.

You need kernel 2.0 or later to use these programs.  These programs
should compile cleanly with either glibc or libc5.

There is no NLS support in this distribution.  The files are out of date.
Unless a volunteer is found soon to maintain the translations, NLS will be
dropped altogether.

ipfw has been removed from the distribution.  Use ipfwadm instead; get
it at <ftp://ftp.xos.nl/pub/linux/ipfwadm/>.

route/netstat -r do not yet support different AF cleanly.  IPX/DDP/AX25
people, please feel free to add the code.

ifconfig now supports changing media types for interfaces.  This requires
a recent 2.1.x kernel, and many devices do not support it yet.

The documentation is slimmed down.  I think most of it was out of
date.

Some configuration options require recent 2.1.x kernels.  The defaults should
be safe for both 2.0 and 2.1.  Some of this code may also have problems with
glibc 2.0.

There may be some problems with `arp -s' when using glibc2 and recent kernels.


Phil Blundell
philb@gnu.ai.mit.edu
19th April 1998
