NRL IPv6+IPsec Software Distribution

Introduction

The NRL IPv6/IPsec Software Distribution is a reference implementation of IPv6 and IP Security for the 4.4BSD-Lite networking software. It is freely distributable (subject to U.S. export controls) and usable for commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as the NRL and UC Berkeley license terms are adhered to.

We have also tested this software on x86 systems running NetBSD 1.2, SPARC systems running NetBSD 1.2, and x86 systems using BSDI 2.1. We believe that our code should be easily portable to reasonable 4.4BSD-Lite derived systems (BSDI, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and Lites). We believe that it would be difficult, though not impossible, to port our code to other systems.

This implementation includes kernel networking software and system configuration applications (e.g. ifconfig, netstat, and route) modified to support IPv6/IPsec. This implementation also includes the NRL Key Engine (aka PF_KEY) and an application to interface with it. There are manual pages for the modified and new software, but they might not yet be as detailed as one might like.

This "alpha-quality" release of the IPv6/IPsec software is intended to be used by kernel hackers and implementers who want to get early access and experience with IPv6 and IPsec. Use at your own risk. It is complete enough to use for experimenting but it is not entirely complete. In some areas this is because the specifications are not yet stable.

What's New

• Bug fixes
• Some updates to sync with specs.
• PF_KEY Version 2 key management API and a new security association database. Note that these components are still works in progress and some important functions have not yet been implemented.
• Updated NetBSD port to work under 1.3.
• Bug fixes, spec updates, and some improvements contributed by Dave Borman, BSDI.
• We have removed most user applications and instead include the much more evolved inet6-apps kit instead. The inet6-apps kit is a kit of IPv6 and IPsec applications using a standard API set that is intended to be portable to BSD and Linux systems. Its contents are based on the apps in our last release and have evolved since then.
• N.B.: This alpha is much more of a "snapshot" than a "release"; it is much rougher than our previous alphas. It has not gone through the kind of testing that we've done for previous releases because we are currently working on rewriting large chunks of the code.

Legal

UNIX is a trademark of X/Open.

NRL is a trademark of the US Naval Research Laboratory.

All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

For more information

Download the code! If you are in the U.S., get the code from MIT or cisco Systems. Users outside the U.S. are on their own -- parts of the code are export controlled.

As a last resort, you can send specific questions to < ipv6-info@itd.nrl.navy.mil >. Do not send junk e-mail or questions not specifically related to the NRL IPv6+IPsec code to this address.