This is just a place for me to jot down my own personal HOWTO for compiling my Debian 2.6.9 kernel with MPPE support (which will allow me to connect to a Microsoft VPN)
Step 1: Install the latest kernel image to get a base config
- apt-get install kernel-image-2.6.9-1-686
- reboot into the kernel
Step 2: Get the latest kernel source, ncurses and kernel-headers
- apt-get -t testing install kernel-source-2.6.9 libncurses5-dev kernel-headers-2.6.9-1-686 kernel-package
- cd /usr/src
- tar -xvjf kernel-source-2.6.9.tar.bz2
- ln -s ./kernel-source-2.6.9 ./linux
Step 3: Install and apply the MPPE kernel patch:
- apt-get install kernel-patch-mppe
- cd /usr/src/linux
- ../kernel-patch/all/apply/mppe
Step 4: Build the kernel packages (<a href=”http://pptpclient.sourceforge.net/howto-debian-build.phtml”>http://pptpclient.sourceforge.net/howto-debian-build.phtml, <a href=”http://www.adamhooper.com:4242/mcgill-vpn-mppe/#kernel”>http://www.adamhooper.com:4242/mcgill-vpn-mppe/#kernel):
- cd /usr/src/linux
- make-kpkg clean
- cp /boot/config-2.6.9 ./.config
- make-kpkg —append-to-version -mppe—config menuconfig—initrd kernel_image kernel_headers
In the kernel menu config make sure of the following selections
- Device drivers
—> Networking support --> PPP support (M) - Device drivers
—> Networking support --> PPP support-> PPP MPPE compression (M) - Processor type and features
—> Processor family --> Pentium M (This is obviously for me only as I’m on a Centrino laptop – Dell d500 & d600)
Step 5: Install the kernel and kernel header packages
- cd ..
- dpkg -i kernel-image* kernel-headers*
Step 6: Verify MPPE support
- reboot into new kernel
- test mppe support via: > modprobe ppp-compress-18 && echo success
And the next step is actually setting up the scripts to connect to your VPN…
