.TH SLATTACH 8 "2011\-12\-31" "net\-tools" "Linux System Administrator's Manual"
.SH NAME
slattach \- attach a network interface to a serial line
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B "slattach [\-dehlLmnqv] [\-c command] [\-p proto] [\-s speed] [tty]"
.br
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B Slattach
is a tiny little program that can be used to put a normal terminal
("serial") line into one of several "network" modes, thus allowing
you to use it for point-to-point links to other computers.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B tty
Path to a serial device like
.IR /dev/ttyS* ", " /dev/cua* " or " /dev/ptmx
to spawn a new pseudo tty.
.TP
.B "[\-c command]"
Execute
.B command
when the line is hung up. This can be used to run scripts or re-establish
connections when a link goes down.
.TP
.B "[\-d]"
Enable debugging output.  Useful when determining why a given
setup doesn't work.
.TP
.B "[\-h]"
Exit when the carrier is lost. This works on both /dev/tty and /dev/cua
devices by directly monitoring the carrier status every 15 seconds.
.TP
.B "[\-v]"
Enable verbose output.  Useful in shell scripts.
.TP
.B "[\-q]"
Operate in quiet mode - no messages at all.
.TP
.B "[\-l]"
Create an UUCP-style lockfile for the device in /var/lock.
.TP
.B "[\-n]"
Equivalent to the "mesg n" command.
.TP
.B "[\-m]"
Do \fBnot\fP initialize the line into 8 bits raw mode.
.TP
.B "[\-e]"
Exit right after initializing device, instead of waiting for the
line to hang up.
.TP
.B "[\-L]"
Enable 3 wire operation. The terminal is moved into CLOCAL mode, 
carrier watching is disabled.
.TP
.B "[\-p proto]"
Set a specific kind of protocol to use on the line.  The default
is set to
.BR "cslip" ,
i.e. compressed SLIP.  Other possible values are
.B "slip"
(normal SLIP), 
.B "adaptive"
(adaptive CSLIP/SLIP),
.B "ppp"
(Point-to-Point Protocol)
and
.B "kiss"
(a protocol used for communicating with AX.25 packet radio terminal node controllers).
The special argument
.B "tty"
can be used to put the device back into normal serial operation.
Using 'ppp' mode is not normally useful as ppp requires an additional ppp daemon
.B pppd
to be active on the line. For kiss connections the 
.B kissattach
program should be used.
.TP
.B "[\-s speed]"
Set a specific line speed, other than the default.
.PP
If no arguments are given, the current terminal line (usually: the
login device) is used.  Otherwise, an attempt is made to claim the
indicated terminal port, lock it, and open it.
.SH FILES
.I /dev/cua* /var/lock/LCK.* /dev/ttyS* /dev/ptmx
.SH BUGS
None known.
.SH SEE ALSO
kissattach(8), dip(8) pppd(8), sliplogin(8).
.SH AUTHORS
Fred N. van Kempen, <waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org>
.br
Alan Cox, <Alan.Cox@linux.org>
.br
Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@drinkel.ow.org>
.br
George Shearer, <gshearer@one.net>
.br
Yossi Gottlieb, <yogo@math.tau.ac.il>
.br