This is the Linux NET-2/3-HOWTO. This document is a complete rewrite of the earlier NET-FAQ and of the subsequent NET-2-HOWTO versions 1.0+. This document is for the new NET-2/NET-3 tcp/ip networking code for Linux kernels 1.0 and above.
Additions:
Corrections/Updates:
updated ipalias to apply to new 1.3.* kernels
pointed IPX questions to IPX-HOWTO
Ross Biro <biro@yggdrasil.com> wrote the original kernel
based networking code for Linux. He used ethernet drivers written by
Donald Becker <becker@cesdis1.gsfc.nasa.gov>, a SLIP driver
written by Laurence Culhane <loz@holmes.demon.co.uk> and a D-Link
driver by Bj0rn Ekwall <bj0rn@blox.se>.
The further development of the Linux networking code was later taken up by
Fred van Kempen <waltje@hacktic.nl>, who took Ross's code and
produced the NET-2 release of network code. NET-2 went through a
number of revisions until release NET-2d, when
Alan Cox <iialan@iifeak.swan.ac.uk> set about debugging Fred's
code with the aim of producing a stable and working release of code for
incorporation into the standard kernel releases. This code was called
originally called NET-2D(ebugged) and was incorporated into the
standard kernel releases some time before Linux version 1.0 was released.
PPP support was added by Michael Callahan, <callahan@maths.ox.ac.uk>
and Al Longyear, <longyear@netcom.com>, originally as patches to
the kernel and in later releases as part of the standard kernel distribution.
The latest version of the code, NET-3, appears in kernel releases 1.1.5 and later and is essentially the same code, but with many fixes, corrections and enhancements.
Alan has added such features as IPX and AX.25 modules.
Florian La Roche, <flla@stud.uni-sb.de> has produced an updated
distribution of network applications.
NIIBE Yutaka has enhanced the PLIP driver.
Jonathan Naylor has taken up development work on the AX.25 code and has added many features including NetRom support.
Many other people have made contributions by way of bug fixes, ports of applications and by writing device drivers.