PARPD.CONF(5)

📦 version 2.3.0, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💅 parpd.conf — the config file, but make it make sense 🎀

ok so this is the manual page for parpd.conf in section 5 of the File Formats Manual, and bestie, it's literally just the config file for the Proxy ARP Daemon. let's get into it ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

parpd.conf — the Proxy ARP Daemon configuration file 🫶

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So parpd.conf is the file that maps a range of inet addresses to be replied to by parpd(8) 👑 — like, it's the whole guest list of "who gets a reply", and it lives right here.

Each line is made of a command, an inet address, and an optional Ethernet address to respond with. And the key lore: subsequent rules override prior rules ⚠️ — so order matters, bestie, don't come for me when line 12 eats line 3.

A # character means "comment starts here", and everything from that # up to the end of the line is not interpreted by parpd 💬 (so go off in the comments, it's a safe space).

Every line in parpd.conf has this format:

command [inet-address[/cidr][/netmask]][iface] [hardware-address]

Now the valid commands — there are proxy, halfproxy, ignore and interface, and here's the tea on each 🍵:

  • proxy — the classic, it proxies like you'd expect ✨
  • halfproxy — literally the same as proxy, but it will ignore requests from an unspecified address 🙈 (half the vibes, still full send)
  • ignore — this one ignores, no notes 💀
  • interface — using this command you can specify an interface, and then all subsequent commands are only used on that interface 🦋 (it's giving "set the vibe for everything after this line")

Some deets on the values, because precision is a love language 💖:

  • inet addresses are specified in the conventional dot (. ) notation, with an optional cidr or netmask ⭐
  • hardware addresses are expressed as six hexadecimal numbers separated by colons, e.g. "08:00:20:00:5a:bc" 🎀

And then there's attack — a special command 🔥. It proxies the address after receiving two Gratuitous ARP relies — ie both source and destination addresses are the same. This is only useful for testing RFC 5227 implementations 🧪 (yes it says "relies", that's the original wording, we're not fixing it, we're respecting the author's choices periodt).

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Roy Marples <roy@marples.name> — an icon, honestly 💅

😭 BUGS 😭

Found one? Please report them to http://roy.marples.name/projects/parpd 🫶 don't just suffer in silence, bestie.

ok that's the whole page!! 🌸 this is from the Debian flavor of things, dated July 23, 2024 — go set up your proxy ARP daemon and slay, you've got this 🎀✨💖

📦 where this page comes from