+======================================================================
+
+THIS SVN VERSION OF GNUNET IS INCOMPATIBLE TO ALL PREVIOUS RELEASES.
+WE ARE WORKING ON CHANGING FUNDAMENTAL PARTS OF THE CRYPTOGRAPHIC
+PARTS OF THE SYSTEM.
+
+You need to install libgcrypt from git master (1.6.0beta93 at least)
+for the code to compile.
+
+=======================================================================
+
Welcome to GNUnet
These are the direct dependencies for running GNUnet:
- libextractor >= 0.6.1
-- libmicrohttpd >= 0.9.18
+- libmicrohttpd >= 0.9.31
- libgcrypt >= 1.2
- libcurl >= 7.21.3
- libunistring >= 0.9.2
- gnutls >= 2.12.0
+- libidn >= 1.0
+- openssl >= 1.0 (binary, used to generate X.509 certificate)
- libltdl >= 2.2 (part of GNU libtool)
- sqlite >= 3.0 (default database)
- mysql >= 5.1 (alternative to sqLite)
- postgres >= 8.3 (alternative to sqLite)
+- libopus >= 0.9.14 (optional for experimental conversation tool)
+- libpulse >= 2.0 (optional for experimental conversation tool)
Recommended autotools for compiling the SVN version are:
- autoconf >= 2.59
actual GNUnet compilation and installation process with:
$ export GNUNET_PREFIX=/usr/local # or other directory of your choice
-$ addgroup gnunetdns
-$ adduser gnunet gnunet
-$ ./configure --prefix=$GNUNET_PREFIX --with-extractor=$LE_PREFIX
+# addgroup gnunetdns
+# adduser gnunet gnunet
+# ./configure --prefix=$GNUNET_PREFIX --with-extractor=$LE_PREFIX
$ make
# make install
-# sudo -u gnunet mkdir ~/.gnunet/
-# sudo -u gnunet touch ~/.gnunet/gnunet.conf
# sudo -u gnunet gnunet-arm -s
+Note that running the 'configure' and 'make install' steps as
+root (or with sudo) is required as some parts of the installation
+require the creation of SUID binaries. The installation will
+work if you do not run these steps as root, but some components
+may not be installed in the perfect place or with the right
+permissions and thus won't work.
+
This will create the users and groups needed for running GNUnet
securely and then compile and install GNUnet to $GNUNET_PREFIX/bin/,
$GNUNET_PREFIX/lib/ and $GNUNET_PREFIX/share/ and start the system
If you create a system user "gnunet", it is recommended that you edit
the configuration file slightly so that data can be stored in the
-system user home directory at "/var/lib/gnunet"; you may also want to
+system user home directory at "/var/lib/gnunet". Depending on what
+the $HOME-directory of your "gnunet" user is, you might need to set
+the SERVICEHOME option in section "[PATHS]" to "/var/lib/gnunet" to
+do this. Depending on your personal preferences, you may also want to
use "/etc/gnunet.conf" for the location of the configuration file in
-this case.
+this case (instead of ~gnunet/.gnunet/gnunet.conf"). In this case,
+you need to start GNUnet using "gnunet-arm -s -c /etc/gnunet.conf".
You can avoid running 'make install' as root if you run configure
with the "--with-sudo=yes" option and have extensive sudo rights
Configuration
=============
-Note that additional, per-user configuration files
-(~/.gnunet/gnunet.conf) need to be created by each user (for example,
-by running gnunet-setup). Note that gnunet-setup is a separate
-download and requires recent versions of GTK+ and Glade; you can also
-edit the configuration file by hand, but this is not recommended. For
-more general information about the GNU build process read the INSTALL
-file.
+Note that additional, per-user configuration files can be created by
+each user. However, this is usually not necessary as there are few
+per-user options that normal users would want to modify. The defaults
+that are shipped with the installation are usually just fine.
+
+The gnunet-setup tool is particularly useful to generate the master
+configuration for the peer. gnunet-setup can be used to configure and
+test (!) the network settings, choose which applications should be run
+and configure databases. Other options you might want to control
+include system limitations (such as disk space consumption, bandwidth,
+etc.). The resulting configuration files are human-readable and can
+theoretically be created or edited by hand.
+
+gnunet-setup is a separate download and requires somewhat recent
+versions of GTK+ and Glade. You can also create the configuration file
+by hand, but this is not recommended. For more general information
+about the GNU build process read the INSTALL file.
GNUnet uses two types of configuration files, one that specifies the
system-wide defaults (typically located in
location can be specified by giving the "-c" option to the respective
GNUnet application.
-The defaults that are shipped with the installation are usually ok,
-you may want to adjust the limitations (space consumption, bandwidth,
-etc.) though. The configuration files are human-readable. Note that
-you MUST create "~/.gnunet/gnunet.conf" explicitly before starting
-GNUnet. You can either run gnunet-setup (available as part of the
-gnunet-gtk source package) or simply create an empty file.
-
Usage
=====
First, you must obtain an initial list of GNUnet hosts. Knowing a
single peer is sufficient since after that GNUnet propagates
-information about other peers. Note that the default "gnunet.conf"
+information about other peers. Note that the default configuration
contains URLs from where GNUnet downloads an initial hostlist
whenever it is started. If you want to create an alternative URL for
others to use, the file can be generated on any machine running
If the solution with the hostlist URL is not feasible for your
situation, you can also add hosts manually. Simply copy the hostkeys
to "$SERVICEHOME/data/hosts/" (where $SERVICEHOME is the directory
-specified in the gnunet.conf configuration file).
+specified in the gnunet.conf configuration file). You can also use
+"gnunet-peerinfo -g" to GET a URI for a peer and "gnunet-peerinfo -p
+URI" to add a URI from another peer. Finally, GNUnet peers that use
+UDP or WLAN will discover each other automatically (if they are in the
+vicinity of each other) using broadcasts (IPv4/WLAN) or multicasts
+(IPv6).
-Now start the local node using "gnunet-arm -s". GNUnet should run 24/7 if
-you want to maximize your anonymity.
+The local node is started using "gnunet-arm -s". GNUnet should run
+24/7 if you want to maximize your anonymity, as this makes partitioning
+attacks harder.
-You should then be able to access GNUnet using the shell:
+Once your peer is running, you should then be able to access GNUnet
+using the shell:
$ gnunet-search KEYWORD
-This will display a list of results to the console. Then use
+This will display a list of results to the console. You can abort
+the command using "CTRL-C". Then use
$ gnunet-download -o FILENAME GNUNET_URI
system at https://gnunet.org/bugs/.
-Running http on port 80 and https on port 443
+Running HTTP on port 80 and HTTPS on port 443
=============================================
In order to hide GNUnet's HTTP/HTTPS traffic perfectly, you might
network). However, we are not aware of this providing any advantages
at this point.
+If you are already running an HTTP or HTTPS server on port 80 (or 443),
+you may be able to configure it as a "ReverseProxy". Here, you tell
+GNUnet that the externally visible URI is some sub-page on your website,
+and GNUnet can then tunnel its traffic via your existing HTTP server.
+This is particularly powerful if your existing server uses HTTPS, as
+it makes it harder for an adversary to distinguish normal traffic to
+your server from GNUnet traffic. Finally, even if you just use HTTP,
+you might benefit (!) from ISP's traffic shaping as opposed to being
+throttled by ISPs that dislike P2P. Details for configuring the
+reverse proxy are documented on our website.
+
Stay tuned
==========