Rob,
I'm not using ampr-ripd. I'm using XRouter, which runs RIP and can also use the encap.txt file. (I believe JNOS has the same capabilities.) You brought up another reason why I like to have the file on hand, though. XRouter also has the routes right away upon restart when the file is present.
Good information, though, as sometime down the road I could possibly switch to a Linux based gateway instead of using an application based gateway.
73,
Lee K5DAT
Lee,
Ok in that case you can start ampr-ripd with the parameter: -s
It will write your encap file to /var/lib/ampr-ripd/encap.txt whenever it changes
(you may need to mkdir /var/lib/ampr-ripd one time) and you can copy it to wherever
you want, and also when ampr-ripd starts it automatically reads this file so you do
not need to wait 5 minutes to receive the RIP before you have the routes.
It works fine for me. Study the ampr-ripd parameters, it has lots of interesting options.