1 Introduction.

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This is the Linux NET-HOWTO. This document is a complete rewrite of the earlier NET-FAQ, and of the subsequent NET-2-HOWTO, for the new NET-2 and NET-3 tcp/ip networking code for Linux kernels 1.0 and above.

1.1 A brief development history.

Ross Biro <bir7@leland.stanford.edu> wrote the original kernel based networking code for Linux. He used ethernet drivers written by Donald Becker <becker@super.org>, 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 <iiitac@pyr.swan.ac.uk> took Fred's NET-2d code and set about debugging the code with the aim of producing a stable and working release of code for incorporation into the standard kernel releases. This code was called NET-2D(ebugged), and has been incorporated into the standard kernel releases since some time before Linux vers 1.0 was released.

Fred continued developing his kernel network code, and produced NET-2E. A reference for it if you are interested in looking at Fred's new work is listed later on in this document.

With the release of Linux vers 1.0, Linus made a decision to continue supporting Alan's code as the `standard' network kernel code.

The latest revision of the code, NET-3, appears in kernel releases 1.1.5 and later, and is essentially the same code, but with many fixes and corrections.

Unless otherwise stated, this document will refer to the network code included in the standard kernel releases. On the whole this document will server for Fred's code as well, but as the development paths are now seperate, it is possible that there will be differences between the two.

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