[vpn-help] Mac OSX VPN Client Testing ... problems on 10.5.8 Leopard

[Kevin VPN]

On 04/04/2012 08:57 PM, Kevin VPN wrote:
 > --- mgrooms at shrew.net wrote:
 >
 > From: Matthew Grooms <mgrooms at shrew.net>
 > To: "vpn-help at lists.shrew.net" <vpn-help at lists.shrew.net>
 > Subject: Mac OSX VPN Client Testing ...
 > Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 09:10:49 -0600
 >
 > All,
 >
 > At the request of a few users, I have put together a new build of the
 > OS X port of the VPN client based on the head ( 2.2.x ) sources. This
 > build needs more testing, but it appears to be more or less stable
 > in my lab environment. There are two pre-requisites before running
 > the native install package ...
 >
 > 1) Install the LGPL Qt Framework for Mac OSX ...
 > http://get.qt.nokia.com/qt/source/qt-mac-opensource-4.7.1.dmg
 >
 > 2) Install the current release of the TUN/TAP driver for Mac OSX ...
 > http://tuntaposx.sourceforge.net/download.xhtml
 >
 > You can then proceed to install the Shrew Soft VPN client ...
 > http://www.shrew.net/download/vpn/vpn-client-install.dmg
 >
 > The VPN Access manager should be visible in the Application folder.
 > Please report back any issues you may encounter while testing.
 >
 >

Hi list,

In addition to Matthew's comments above, there is also a known bug that 
DNS settings don't work correctly.  Someone posted a patch, but it has 
not been integrated into the code yet 
(http://lists.shrew.net/pipermail/vpn-help/2011-November/004105.html).

Anyway, my problems.  These occurred on a box running OS X 10.5.8 Leopard.

1. Install clobbers the /etc symlink.
2. Shrew does not seem to run, it crashes immediately.


Descriptions:

1. Install clobbers the /etc symlink.

On OS X 10.5 (and I think 10.6), /etc is really a symlink to 
/private/etc.  However the Shrew build installer does not seem to follow 
the symlink and instead creates a /etc directory (destroying the 
symlink) and puts iked.conf and iked.conf.sample into the folder.  The 
result of this is that OS X starts to throw errors like mad because 
applications can no longer find their conf files in /etc.  The machine 
will also not boot and it will not provide useful information.

To fix this, boot off the Install DVD, open a terminal, navigate to the 
HD, blow away etc and create a symlink for private/etc:

cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD
cd etc
rm iked.*
cd ..
rm etc
ln -s private/etc etc

You can then boot from the HD normally.

If you also have the Developer Tools CLI installed, you can re-establish 
the extended attributes on etc (which hide it in Finder).

SetFile -P -a V etc

Then reboot so Finder picks up the new invisible attribute.


2. Shrew does not seem to run on 10.5.8, it crashes immediately.

Even with QT and tun/tap installed, Shrew crashes as soon as it is 
launched.  There's no error message that I can see.

Has anyone had success getting the build of Shrew to run on OS X 10.5.x?