
KNOCK.EXE, Version 0.81

*** Note: knock.exe V0.81 is UNCHANGED from knock.exe V0.8
***       The new revision number is used only to keep the 
***       rev numbers of 'doormand', 'knock', & 'knock.exe'
***       in sync.

Bruce Ward
Saint John, NB, Canada Sept.3, 2005


This is the 'Readme' file for 'knock.exe'.   Knock is the client half of
of a client-server pair, the other half being 'doormand', the doorman
daemon.   The doorman is used to help secure Unix/GNU-Linux servers
on the wild and wooly Internet by allowing them to run with all TCP
ports closed by a firewall.

Knock is used to persuade the doorman to insert a firewall rule which
will allow you to make a TCP connection for a particular service. The
rule will be kept for a configured time period, and automatically
removed if no TCP connection made.  If one is made, the connection
may be kept indefinitely; when finally broken, the firewall rule is
removed. 

knock will typically be used like this:

C:\whatver> knock -r"putty myname@%H%"  x.myserver.org  22
C:\whatver> 


---Installing----------------------------------------------------------

To install knock.exe, simply drop it in any directory which occurs in
your PATH variable, then drop knock.cfg in C:\

Read 'knock.txt' and 'knockcfg.txt'; then edit C:\knock.cfg to match the
way the server's doorman is configured.  You should now be ready to go.


---Running-------------------------------------------------------------



---If you are building for windows------------------------------------

You must first download the 'doorman-X.X.X.tgz' package.
Only the 'knock' client may be built for windows.
Knock.c can be compiled with Microsoft Visual C++; double-click
on 'WINNOCK.DSW', and build as normal.


---Please report bugs--------------------------------------------------

It should be noted that this is 'beta' software; if you find bugs,
(which is altogether likely) please, PLEASE report them to:
<bward2@users.sourceforge.net>

This includes anything in the documentation which is unclear, dumb,
or just plain wrong, and things which don't work the way you think
they should.


