mint 1.1 for Linux (June 2001)

mint, a minimal X toolbar, provides minimal function in minimal space.

mint allows you to change your network configurations in a few
keystrokes.  It supports DHCP and static addresses, and can execute an
authentication script when it changes the configuration.

mint displays the name of current network configuration.  It also
displays a clock and a battery meter.  The battery meter shows the
percentage of remaining battery life and appends a `+' to the battery
life when AC power is connected.

Since it changes network configuration, mint must be run setuid root.
It safely invokes the authentication script as the user who started
mint, not root.

mint provides a network configuration called "off" to shutdown the
network interface.  mint displays "?" if it does not recognize the
current network configuration.  It displays "xx" if the network
interface does not exist.

The authentication script is run in the background.  When you switch
network configuration, mint kills any previously running
authentication script.  For DHCP configurations, mint does does not
run the authentication script if the DHCP request fails.

DHCP support is based on the "dhcpcd" command, which mint expects to
find in /sbin.  dhcpcd should have come with your Linux distribution;
if not you can get it from
http://www.phystech.com/download/dhcpcd.html.

mint configuration resides in a file called `.mint' in your home
directory.  A .mint is mandatory.  The format of a .mint is as
follows (see sample.mint for a complete example):

  - Blank lines are ignored
  - Comments begin with `#' and extend to end of line
  - Tokens can be separated by arbitrary non-newline whitespace

  - "interface": A line beginning with the token "interface" specifies
    the network interface that mint configures.  "interface" must be
    followed by the name of the network device.  mint can only control
    one network interface.

    Example:

    # Set mint to configure the network device "eth0".
    interface eth0

  - A line beginning with the token "net" specifies a network
    configuration.  A network configuration line is comprised of the
    following fields:

    NAME:            Name of the network
    NETWORK/MASK:    Network address, followed by a slash, followed by
                     the number of significant bits in the network address
    IP:              Static IP address to assign the interface when
                     this network is selected or the token "dhcp" if
                     DHCP should be used to acquire an IP address.
    GATEWAY:         Static IP address to assign the interface when
                     this network is selected or the token "dhcp" if
                     DHCP should be used to acquire an IP address.
    AUTH:            Script and arguments to invoke when the
                     configuration is changed.
 
    All of the fields are mandatory except AUTH.
                     
    You must use dotted numeric IP addresses.  mint does not resolve
    domain names.

    Example:

    # The "CS" network configuration.  The CS network has network
    # address 128.105.0.0 with netmask 255.255.0.0.  When this
    # configuration is selected, mint runs DHCP to obtain an IP
    # address and gateway.  After DHCP succeeds, mint executes the
    # script "auth-cs" with the argument "start".
    net    cs    128.105.0.0/16   dhcp          dhcp         auth-cs start

    Example:

    # The "HOME" network configuration.  The CS network has network
    # address 192.168.1.0 with netmask 255.255.255.0.  When this
    # configuration is selected, mint statically assigns the IP
    # address to 192.168.1.5 and the default gateway route to
    # 192.168.1.1.  Since no authentication script is provided, mint
    # does not do anything else.
    net    home  192.168.1.0/24   192.168.1.5   192.168.1.1


The mint window responds to the following keys:

   Up/Down  Cycle through network configurations
   Enter    Select new network configuration
   q        Quit

The mint command recognizes the following arguments:

   -fn <font>    Set the font
   -fg <color>   Set the foreground color
   -bg <color>   Set the background color

Send bugs and comments to Victor Zandy <zandy@cs.wisc.edu>.