Licensing and MSCHAP binaries for pppd (Was: [pptp-server] pptpd questions/info newbie...)

[Steve Langasek]

> Does anyone know of reasons why this mppe patch should not be included in
> the upstream releases as well (e.g., crypto laws or patent concerns)?

Ah, I found the answer to this staring me in the face.  There is a licensing
issue here; the patch uses openssl headers to build, and these headers
are under a license that's incompatible with the GPL -- it is not possible to
distribute the resulting combination without express permission from the PPP
authors.  So I will not be distributing binary .deb packages at this time;
however, I can make the patch available in a form that's well-suited for
inclusion in a Debian package.  If there's interest, let me know.

Also, I'm in the process of extending pppd's plugin support to include hooks
for alternate CHAP authenticators, which is functionality that my specific
application requires (authenticating PPTP connections against a RADIUS server
instead of against a chap-secrets file).  Depending on the license
restrictions the pppd authors choose to place on their plugin API, it may be
possible to provide MS-CHAPv2 support in the form of a freely-distributable
plugin.

Cheers,
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer