README
¶
modemmenu
A login and menu for dial-up callers, the first thing a caller sees once the modems connect.
modemmenu asks for a user name and password, shows the message of the
day and offers a menu of what the caller may do: a bulletin board, PPP
dial-up networking, a shell, or any program. It runs behind
D-Modem's Asterisk module,
app_dmodem, one process per call or one server for all of them.
Welcome to D-Modem.
Connected at 33600 bit/s.
login: alice
Password: ******
Hello alice, on 2026-10-10 at 21:05:09.
The line is down for maintenance on Sunday.
Main menu
[B] Bulletin board
[P] PPP (dial-up networking)
[S] Shell
[G] Goodbye (hang up)
Selection: ppp
- Logins from a users file, LDAP, SQL (MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite) or system accounts through PAM
- PPP dialers detected (AutoPPP and PAP), with a pppd plugin
- Menus with access by user and group, guests and self sign-up
- Each item starts with the caller's credentials and the call's details: dialed number, caller ID, connect rate, time
- Drop files for doors, last callers, and handing a caller to another menu
- A ready-made FreePBX setup (freepbx/)
Quick start
Go 1.22 or later:
make # with PAM when libpam's headers are there
make install # /usr/local/bin/modemmenu and the samples
modemmenu -config /etc/asterisk/modemmenu.conf -check # check the configuration
then point an app_dmodem profile at it (docs/running.md).
Documentation
The documentation is also a website, d-modem.github.io/menu, with reference pages made from the code.
docs/ has building, running, configuration, authentication, PPP, security and the tests. samples/modemmenu.conf.sample has every option.
The D-Modem suite
| Repository | What it is |
|---|---|
| D-Modem | The open V.92 softmodem: dmodemd, libdmodem and the Asterisk, FreeSWITCH and ARI modules |
| app | The D-Modem app for Android and iOS: a dial-up modem on a SIP call |
| hardware | pico-serial: RP2040 serial adapters and phone-line USB sticks |
| menu | modemmenu: the login and menu dial-up callers reach |
| bbs | A bulletin board for telnet, SSH, TN3270 and modem callers |
| go3270 | A Go library for 3270 terminal servers, used by bbs |
| brand | Logos, colours, type and the naming guide |
Licence
AGPL-3.0-only (LICENSE), or a commercial licence from the D-Modem Authors (COMMERCIAL-LICENSE.md). Contributions come with a contributor agreement (CONTRIBUTING.md).
If you modify modemmenu and offer it to callers, the AGPL's section 13 has you offer them its source: a menu item, the banner or the message of the day naming where it is will do.
Directories
¶
| Path | Synopsis |
|---|---|
|
Package authd is modemmenu's auth socket (authd in modemmenu.conf), for the programs that ask it: modemmenu's backends (its users file, LDAP, SQL, the system's accounts by PAM) answer whether a password is a user's, so that a BBS's other logins (telnet, SSH, the web) take the same one as the dial-up line.
|
Package authd is modemmenu's auth socket (authd in modemmenu.conf), for the programs that ask it: modemmenu's backends (its users file, LDAP, SQL, the system's accounts by PAM) answer whether a password is a user's, so that a BBS's other logins (telnet, SSH, the web) take the same one as the dial-up line. |
|
cmd
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modemmenu
command
modemmenu: the login and menu of a dial-up line.
|
modemmenu: the login and menu of a dial-up line. |
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internal
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auth
Package auth checks a user's password with modemmenu's backends (a users file, LDAP, SQL, the system's accounts by PAM), in turn, and changes it in the backend that holds the account.
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Package auth checks a user's password with modemmenu's backends (a users file, LDAP, SQL, the system's accounts by PAM), in turn, and changes it in the backend that holds the account. |
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config
Package config reads modemmenu.conf: [sections] of key = value, the values as strings, yes/no, numbers and durations, and the {name} templates of its strings.
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Package config reads modemmenu.conf: [sections] of key = value, the values as strings, yes/no, numbers and durations, and the {name} templates of its strings. |
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telnet
Package telnet is just enough of a telnet client for a BBS: binary, suppress go ahead and the server's echo, and the terminal type.
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Package telnet is just enough of a telnet client for a BBS: binary, suppress go ahead and the server's echo, and the terminal type. |
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term
Package term is the caller's line: raw reads and writes with timeouts, line editing and echo, the questions that tell what terminal the caller has (ANSI, VT52, an ANSI terminal's identity), PETSCII for a Commodore, and a PPP frame told from typing.
|
Package term is the caller's line: raw reads and writes with timeouts, line editing and echo, the questions that tell what terminal the caller has (ANSI, VT52, an ANSI terminal's identity), PETSCII for a Commodore, and a PPP frame told from typing. |
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tools
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confref
command
Command confref writes docs/reference.md, the configuration reference: every section and key of modemmenu.conf, with the help, the sample's value and the other values the sample shows, all read from the comments of samples/modemmenu.conf.sample.
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Command confref writes docs/reference.md, the configuration reference: every section and key of modemmenu.conf, with the help, the sample's value and the other values the sample shows, all read from the comments of samples/modemmenu.conf.sample. |
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