This is ncpfs, the user utilities that are needed to use the NCP kernel support
present in Linux since version 1.3.71. This version of ncpfs is only usable
with Linux 2.1.29 and later. To use it, please apply the patch contained in the
patches/ directory.

ncpfs works with NetWare versions 3.x and following. It does NOT work
with NetWare version 2.x. Some of the NetWare look-alikes, such as
CD-ROM servers WinNT 3.51 Server are also NOT supported. This
restriction comes from the fact that ncpfs relies heavily on the name
space facilities NetWare supports since version 3. When you want to
mount volumes that have been exported by mars_nwe, you have to
activate the name space calls in mars_nwe's config.h file, although
probably it's more clever to use nfs between two Linux machines.

The user-space utilities such as nprint and the bindery utils should
work with all versions of NetWare.

ncpfs does NOT support access to the NDS, so if you want to mount
volumes exported by a NetWare 4.x server, you will have to install the
bindery emulation on that server. If you need access to the NDS, ask
Caldera for their CND. See http://www.caldera.com for more
information.


INSTALLATION

Before you start the installation of the user utilities, please make sure that
your kernel is 2.1.29 or later. If you are using 2.1.29, please apply the patch
contained in patches/linux-2.1.29.diff. You have to compile your kernel with
IPX and NCP support compiled in. But as you are using a development kernel, you
probably know what you're doing :-).


HELP

In the meantime my mail volume has grown considerably, so the response
time might be better at the LinWare mailing list than at my personal
email address. You can mail to and/or subscribe to the LinWare mailing
list:

Topics for the list:
- discussing LinWare server, its features, installation problems and bugs
- using IPX protocol under Linux
- IPX routing and router daemons under Linux
- mars_nwe
- ncpfs

You can subscribe to the list by sending the command "add linware" in
the mail message body to address: "listserv@sh.cvut.cz".  Your
postings should be sent to: "linware@sh.cvut.cz".


USING NCPFS

Please note that your IPX system has to be configured correctly. If
you want to take the 'Plug-and-Play' route, you can simply say
'ipx_configure --auto_interface=on --auto_primary=on'. If ncpmount
does not work immediately, you should wait for about 1 minute and try
again. In that period, an IPX packet should have passed by and your
network interface should have configured itself automatically.

If all that does not work and you want to do the configuration by
hand, note that there has to be a route to the internal network of
your server. Please see the file util/start_ipx for an example.

I use tools written by Greg Page, Caldera. I hope I did not do too
much harm to their business. For your convenience I included the
contents of the file ipx.tar made available by Caldera.

My main source of information is a book written in german by Manfred
Hill and Ralf Zessin, "Netzwerkprogrammierung in C", IWT Verlag GmbH,
1995, ISBN 3-88322-491-X. It contains quite a lot of typographical and
other errors, but I find it very valuable as an introduction to NCP
programming. If you know about the concepts and possibilities of NCP,
Ralph Brown's interrupt list becomes much more readable. It's much
easier to find undocumented information if you know what to look for!

For the curious: the files ncplib.[ch] are a library that makes it
possible to send NCP requests to the server over a mounted
directory. I use it to keep the encryption stuff out of the kernel by
logging in from user space. Look at the file ncptest.c for other
possible uses. I use ncptest to check my assumptions about the widely
undocumented NetWare Core Protocol.  Maybe this is the beginning of a
free NetWare API for Linux! I would be happy to receive your comments
on this.


THANKS

I do not want to leave those unmentioned, who have helped me with
ncpfs. 

The most enthusiastic user and tester is certainly Uwe Bonnes
<bon@elektron.ikp.physik.th-darmstadt.de>. So far he's the only one
who has contributed something, namely manpages and corretions to
existing manpages.

Ales Dyrak has written lwared, which was the initial start for ncpfs.

Alan Cox has found some bugs I would probably never have found.

Look at the file Changes for others.


LIMITATIONS (compare these with smbfs :-)

The limitations ncpfs has are the natural limitations of the NCP
protocol, which was designed with MS-DOS based PCs in mind. The first
limitation is the lack of uid, gid and permission information per
file. You have to assign those values once for a complete mounted
directory.

You will not be able to access servers that require packet
signatures. This seems to be one of Novell's bigger secrets :-(.

Have fun with ncpfs!

Volker
lendecke@namu01.gwdg.de