GNUnet is peer-to-peer framework focusing on security. The first and
primary application for GNUnet is anonymous file-sharing. GNUnet is
currently developed by a worldwide group of independent free software
-developers. GNUnet is a part of the GNU project (http://www.gnu.org/).
+developers. GNUnet is a GNU package (http://www.gnu.org/).
-This is a BETA release. While there are no known significant bugs, we
-are still changing significant aspects of the system in any other
-version. While we believe that the system is usable, quite a few
-important features -- which would improve performance make the life of
-users easier -- are still missing. Also, the documentation may not be
-adequate for inexperienced users.
+This is an ALPHA release. There are known and significant bugs as
+well as many missing features in this release.
-For a longer description of the GNUnet System see our webpages
-http://www.gnu.org/software/gnunet/ and http://gnunet.org/.
+Additional documentation about GNUnet can be found at
+https://gnunet.org/.
Dependencies:
=============
-For the impatient, here is the list of immediate dependencies for
-running GNUnet:
+Please note that for many of its dependencies GNUnet requires very
+recent versions of the libraries which are often NOT to be found in
+stable distributions in 2011. While using older packages may in some
+cases on some operating systems may seem to work in some limited
+fashion, we are in many cases aware of serious problems with older
+packages. Hence please make sure to use the versions listed below.
-- libextractor >= 0.5.20b
+These are the direct dependencies for running GNUnet:
+
+- libextractor >= 0.6.1
+- libmicrohttpd >= 0.9.21
- libgcrypt >= 1.2
-- libgmp >= 4.0
-- libcurl >= 7.15.4
+- libcurl >= 7.21.0
+- libunistring >= 0.9.2
- libltdl >= 2.2 (part of GNU libtool)
-- libguile >= 1.8 (required for gnunet-setup)
-- GNU adns >= 1.0 (strongly recommended)
-- mysql >= 5.0 (strongly recommended)
-- sqlite >= 3.0 (alternative to MySQL)
-
-Certain gnunet-setup plugins would also like to have:
-- GTK >= 2.6.0
-- Qt >= 4.0
-- dialog >= 1.0-20051207
-- ncurses
-
-Certain transports would also like to have:
-- libmicrohttpd >= 0.4.0b
-- libcurl >= 7.15.4
-- libesmtp >= 1.0.4
-
+- sqlite >= 3.0 (default database)
+- mysql >= 5.1 (alternative to sqLite)
+- postgres >= 8.3 (alternative to sqLite)
Recommended autotools for compiling the SVN version are:
- autoconf >= 2.59
-- automake >= 1.9.4
-- libtool >= 1.5
-- libltdl >= 2.2.0 (only in Debian experimental)
-
-See also README.debian for a list of Debian packages.
+- automake >= 1.11.1
+- libtool >= 2.2
How to install?
The fastest way is to use a binary package if it is available for your
system. For a more detailed description, read the installation
-instructions on the webpage at http://gnunet.org/documentation.php3.
+instructions on the webpage at https://gnunet.org/installation.
+Note that some functions of GNUnet require "root" access. GNUnet will
+install (tiny) SUID binaries for those functions is you run "make
+install" as root. If you do not, GNUnet will still work, but some
+functionality will not be available (including certain forms of NAT
+traversal).
-If you install from source, you need to install libextractor
-first (download from http://gnunet.org/libextractor/). Then
-you can start the actual GNUnet compilation process with:
+GNUnet requires the GNU MP library (http://www.gnu.org/software/gmp/)
+and libgcrypt (http://www.gnupg.org/). You can specify the path to
+libgcrypt by passing "--with-gcrypt=PATH" to configure. You will also
+need either sqlite (http://www.sqlite.org/), MySQL
+(http://www.mysql.org/) or PostGres (http://www.postgres.org/).
+
+If you install from source, you need to install GNU libextractor first
+(download from http://www.gnu.org/software/libextractor/). We also
+recommend installing GNU libmicrohttpd (download from
+http://www.gnu.org/software/libmicrohttpd/). Then you can start the
+actual GNUnet compilation process with:
$ ./configure --prefix=$HOME --with-extractor=$HOME
$ make
# make install
-# gnunet-setup -d
-# gnunetd
-
-This will compile and install GNUnet to ~/bin/, ~/lib/ and ~/man/.
-gnunet-setup will create the daemon configuration (-d); this step is
-interactive. You can run gnunet-setup as root for a system-wide
-installation or as a particular user to create a personal
-installation. If you do not want to run gnunetd as root, gnunet-setup
-can be used to add a user "gnunet". Data will then be stored in
-/var/lib/GNUnet and gnunetd will run as that user. Note that
-additional, per-user configuration files (~/.gnunet/gnunet.conf) also
-need to be created by each user by running gnunet-setup without the -d
-option. Depending on your operating system the wizards of
-gnunet-setup can also be used to create an init script that starts
-gnunetd each time the system boots. For more general information
-about the GNU build process read the INSTALL file.
-
-GNUnet requires the GNU MP library (http://www.gnu.org/software/gmp/)
-and libgcrypt. You can specify the path to libgcrypt by passing
-"--with-gcrypt=PATH" to configure. You will also need either sqlite
-(version 3 or higher) or MySQL (version 5.0 or higher).
+# sudo -u gnunet mkdir ~/.gnunet/
+# sudo -u gnunet touch ~/.gnunet/gnunet.conf
+# sudo -u gnunet gnunet-arm -s
+
+This will compile and install GNUnet to $HOME/bin/, $HOME/lib/ and
+$HOME/share/ and start the system with the default configuration. It
+is recommended that you add a user "gnunet" to run "gnunet-arm". You
+can then still run the end-user applications as another user. If you
+create a user "gnunet", it is recommended that you edit the
+configuration file slightly so that data can be stored in
+"/var/lib/gnunet"; you may also want to use "/etc/gnunet.conf" for the
+location of the configuration file in this case.
+
+You can avoid running 'make install' as root if you run configure
+with the "--with-sudo=yes" option and have extensive sudo rights
+(can run chmod +s and chown via sudo). If you run 'make install'
+as a normal user without sudo rights (or the configure option),
+certain binaries that require additional priviledges will not be
+installed properly (and NAT traversal, WLAN and VPN will not work).
+
+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.
If you are compiling the code from subversion, you have to run
". bootstrap" before ./configure. If you receive an error during the
Configuration
=============
-GNUnet uses two types of configuration files, one for the daemon
-(called gnunetd.conf) and one for each user (gnunet.conf). You can
-create and edit these configuration files with the gnunet-setup tool.
-You need to add the option "-d" to gnunet-setup in order to edit
-gnunetd.conf (by default, gnunet-setup will edit gnunet.conf). The
-defaults that are created the first time you run gnunet-setup are
-usually ok, you may want to adjust the limitations (space consumption,
-bandwidth, etc.) though. The configuration files are human-readable;
-gnunetd's configuration is typically located at "/etc/gnunetd.conf".
-The per-user configuration file should be at "~/.gnunet/gnunet.conf".
-A default version of the per-user configuration will automatically
-be created whenever you run any tool that needs that particular
-cofniguration file.
-
-You MUST create /etc/gnunetd.conf explicitly before starting gnunetd,
-and the recommended way to do this is to run gnunet-setup -d (plus
-possibly options to specify which user interface you would perfer).
-
-If you want to use a different configuration file, pass the name of
-the configuration file as an argument with the option "-c" to any
-GNUnet application. Sending a SIGHUP to the gnunetd process will
-cause gnunetd to re-read the configuration file. Note that not all
-options can be changed at runtime this way (e.g. to change any port
-number, you must fully restart gnunetd).
-
-After changing certain options (or updating GNUnet) you must re-run
-gnunet-update.
+GNUnet uses two types of configuration files, one that specifies the
+system-wide defaults (typically located in /usr/share/gnunet/defaults
+.conf) and a second one that overrides default values with
+user-specific preferences. The user-specific configuration file
+should be located in "~/.gnunet/gnunet.conf" or its 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 "gnunetd.conf"
-contains URLs from where gnunetd downloads an initial hostlist
+information about other peers. Note that the default "gnunet.conf"
+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
-gnunetd by periodically executing
-
-$ cat $GNUNETD_HOME/data/hosts/* > the_file
-
-If the solution with the URL is not feasible for your situation, you
-can also add hosts manually. The GNUnet webpage has a public
-directory of hostkeys under http://gnunet.org/hosts/. You
-can of course use any other source for these files. Copy the hostkeys
-to "$GNUNETD_HOME/data/hosts/" (where $GNUNETD_HOME is the
-directory specified in the /etc/gnunetd.conf configuration file).
-
-Now start the local node using "gnunetd". gnunetd should run 24/7 if
-you want to maximize your anonymity. You may start it as a service
-with "/etc/init.d/gnunetd start". To insert files into GNUnet, use
-the "gnunet-insert" command.
+GNUnet by periodically executing
-The GTK user interface is shipped separately from GNUnet. After
-downloading and installing gnunet-gtk, you can invoke the GUI with:
+$ cat $SERVICEHOME/data/hosts/* > the_file
-$ gnunet-gtk
+and offering 'the_file' via your web server. Alternatively, you can
+run the build-in web server by adding '-p' to the OPTIONS value
+in the "hostlist" section of gnunet.conf and opening the respective
+HTTPPORT to the public.
-For Qt/KDE users, there is also a QT user interface (also shipped
-separately). If you install gnunet-qt, you can invoke the GUI with:
+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 $SERVICEHOME is the directory
+specified in the gnunet.conf configuration file).
-$ gnunet-qt
+Now start the local node using "gnunet-arm -s". GNUnet should run 24/7 if
+you want to maximize your anonymity.
-If you want to use the shell (part of this distribution), use
+You should then be able to access GNUnet using the shell:
$ gnunet-search KEYWORD
$ gnunet-download -o FILENAME GNUNET_URI
to retrieve a file. The GNUNET_URI is printed by gnunet-search
-together with a description.
+together with a description. To publish files on GNUnet, use the
+"gnunet-publish" command.
+
-In order to share files, the easiest way is to create a directory
-with the files (and directories) that you want to share and run
+The GTK user interface is shipped separately. After downloading and
+installing gnunet-gtk, you can invoke the GUI with:
-$ nohup gnunet-auto-share NAME-OF-THE-DIRECTORY &
+$ gnunet-gtk
For further documentation, see our webpage.
==============
Contributions are welcome, please submit bugs to
-https://gnunet.org/mantis/. Please make sure to run contrib/report.sh
+https://gnunet.org/bugs/. Please make sure to run contrib/report.sh
and include the output with your bug reports. More about how to
report bugs can be found in the GNUnet FAQ on the webpage. Submit
patches via E-Mail to gnunet-developers@gnu.org.
$ export GNUNET_PREFIX=$SOMEWHERE
$ make check
-If any testcases fail to pass on your system, run "contrib/report.sh"
-and report the output together with information about the failing
-testcase to the Mantis bugtracking system at
-https://gnunet.org/mantis/.
+Some of the testcases require python >= 2.6 and pexpect to be
+installed. If any testcases fail to pass on your system, run
+"contrib/report.sh" and report the output together with
+information about the failing testcase to the Mantis bugtracking
+system at https://gnunet.org/bugs/.
-Running http on port 80
-=======================
+Running http on port 80 and https on port 443
+=============================================
-In order to hide GNUnet's HTTP traffic perfectly, you might consider
-running GNUnet's HTTP transport on port 80. However, you should not
-run GNUnet as root. Instead, forward port 80 to say 8080 with this
-command (as root, in your startup scripts):
+In order to hide GNUnet's HTTP/HTTPS traffic perfectly, you might
+consider running GNUnet's HTTP/HTTPS transport on port 80/443.
+However, we do not recommend running GNUnet as root. Instead, forward
+port 80 to say 8080 with this command (as root, in your startup
+scripts):
# iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -m tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 8080
-Then set in the HTTP section of gnunetd.conf the "ADVERTISED-PORT"
-to "80" and "PORT" to 8080. You can do the same trick for the
-TCP and UDP transports if you want to map them to a priviledged
-port (from the point of view of the network).
+or for HTTPS
+# iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -m tcp --dport 443 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 4433
-Running the SMTP transport
-==========================
+Then set in the HTTP section of gnunet.conf the "ADVERTISED-PORT" to
+"80" and "PORT" to 8080 and similarly in the HTTPS section the
+"ADVERTISED-PORT" to "443" and "PORT" to 4433.
-Running GNUnet over SMTP (e-mail) is a bit more involved. Note that
-you do not need to run all transports (only running the NAT transport
-is the only thing that will not work). If you really want to do
-P2P over SMTP, read the instructions at http://gnunet.org/smtp.php3
+You can do the same trick for the TCP and UDP transports if you want
+to map them to a priviledged port (from the point of view of the
+network). However, we are not aware of this providing any advantages
+at this point.
Stay tuned
==========
+* https://gnunet.org/
+* https://gnunet.org/bugs/
+* https://gnunet.org/svn/
* http://www.gnu.org/software/gnunet/
-* http://gnunet.org/
-* https://gnunet.org/mantis/
-* https://gnunet.org/drupal/
* http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnunet-developers
* http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnunet
* http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnunet
* http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnunet-svn
-
projects / oweals / gnunet.git / blobdiff