

NAME

  ppp-multidial.sh - Shell-script to dial multiple PPP phone numbers.

SYNOPSIS 

  ppp-multidial.sh [-ncw -once -repeat <n> -only <n>]

DESCRIPTION 

  I wrote this when, after upgrading to an ELF Linux distribution,
  my old dip-script kludge for dailing in and connecting via
  PPP ceased to function. Now, you're probably thinking, "Great.
  Another chat script for PPP connections. Big Deal." Well, I've
  found the existing chat scripts out there woefully inadequate. 

  You see, most users aren't blessed with an ISP [Internet Service
  Provider] that is unused 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In
  short - most folks start up their chat script and get a busy
  signal. Now, wouldn't it be nice if that chat script would
  redial for you if the line was busy, or the connection failed
  in some way? 

  Some of us also happen to have ISP's with more than one dial-in
  number. Unfortunately, most of the chat scripts out there don't
  take such systems into account. It would also be nice if, after
  trying one line and failing, the chat script tried the other
  dial-in numbers. 

  Now, I also happen to have call-waiting. If I'm working from
  home in the early evenings, I'll block it so those f***ing
  telemarketers won't interrupt my connection. But, what if,
  one evening, I was expecting an important phone call from Mom
  and wanted to leave the call waiting on so it would break the
  connection? Wouldn't it be nice if the chat script could handle
  this, too? 

  This, of course, is the purpose of this shell script. It creates
  a chat script on the fly, appending the "Block Call Waiting"
  phone codes if requested, and using different phone numbers
  for different dialing cycles. I've allowed for up to 5 dial-in
  phone numbers, each of which can have its own username/password.
  Or, you can specify a global username/password for all 5 numbers.

  OPTIONS

    -h

      Display a help message.

    -ncw

      Block call-waiting. The call-waiting tone disrupts the connections
      of some modems.

    -once

      Perform only one dialing cycle. The default is "attack-dialing".

    -repeat <n>

      Repeat the dialing cycle only <n> times. The default is
      "attack-dialing".

    -only <n>

      Instead of the default dialing cycle, dial only those numbers
      specified by <n>. You can use a comma-separated list of
      numbers.

      Each of the 5 possible phone numbers is identified by a
      number between [duh] 1 and 5.

During a single dialing cycle, the script calls each of the phone
numbers it has, in order, until it gets a connection. It moves
on to the next number if the previous number "failed" - i.e.
the line was busy, the ppp-daemon died before connection was
complete, etc. "Attack-dialing" is the default dialing style;
if the script doesn't make a connection during a dialing cycle,
it repeats the cycle until it does.

FILES

    * /etc/ppp/ppp-multidial.rc

      The rc-file for the script. You'll need to set this up correctly
      before you can use ppp-multidial.sh

    * /tmp/ppp-multidial.dial-log

      The dialing logfile. The script tries to remove this, as
      does the accompanying script, "ppp-off.sh". However, if
      that fails to happen, you should go ahead and delete this
      manually so that future executions of "ppp-multidial.sh"
      don't cause it to keep growing.

AUTHOR 

  John Weiss [John.Weiss@colorado.edu] 
