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1 | Dolda Connect - Installation |
2 | |
3 | Three main steps are required in order to get Dolda Connect up and |
4 | running: |
5 | |
6 | 1. Compile and install the sources |
7 | 2. Customize the configuration file |
8 | 3. Start the daemon |
9 | |
10 | Each of these steps are detailed below. However, it is first necessary |
11 | to understand that Dolda Connect can be run in either single-user mode |
12 | or multi-user mode, and that the chosen mode fundamentally changes how |
13 | each step should be carried out. The differences between these modes |
14 | will be described right away. If you have read them and are still in |
15 | doubt which to choose, go with the single-user mode. |
16 | |
17 | In multi-user mode, the daemon runs as root and can serve multiple |
18 | users simultaneously. The primary advantage is that if you know that |
19 | several people will be using Dolda Connect, there will be no need to |
20 | run several instances for each of them, and that they will all benefit |
21 | from being connected to the same hubs. The primary disadvantages are |
22 | that there may be unknown security issues with running the server as |
23 | root, and that, since the hubs are shared, searches will have to be |
24 | arbitrated by the server, which may be annoying for large values of |
25 | simultaneous searches. Indirect advantages are mostly that it is |
26 | easier to start the server at boot time when running as root. |
27 | |
28 | In single-user mode, the daemon runs as the user who will be using |
29 | it. The primary advantages is that no root privileges are required for |
30 | running the server in single-user mode -- including for tasks such as |
31 | editing the configuration file -- and that any unknown security issues |
32 | will at least be restricted to the user running the server. When only |
33 | one user is using Dolda Connect, there are no known significant |
34 | disadvantages to running in single-user mode. |
35 | |
36 | Compiling and installing the sources |
37 | |
38 | Compiling the sources involve the ordinary GNU autotools steps: |
39 | ./configure, make, and make install, where the last step normally |
40 | needs to be carried out as root (unless you are installing in your own |
41 | home directory). You are assumed to be familiar with these steps. |
42 | |
43 | However, there are special notes that deserve attention regarding the |
44 | configure script. Some optional features can be enabled through the |
45 | use of command-line parameters: |
46 | |
47 | * --with-guile enables the Guile extension library, necessary for any |
48 | clients written in Scheme (such as the automatic downloader). |
49 | * --enable-gtk2pbar enables graphical progress bars in the Gtk2 GUI |
50 | client, instead of textual percent indicators. However, these |
51 | progress bars have proven to be unstable with certain Gtk2 themes, |
52 | so if the GUI crashes with them enabled, try turning them off |
53 | before reporting a bug. |
54 | * --enable-gnomeapplet selects the GNOME panel applet for |
55 | compilation. |
56 | * --enable-gaimplugin selects the Gaim chat plugin for compilation. |
57 | |
58 | Gtk2 and Kerberos V support are detected automatically by the |
59 | configure script. Make sure to check the output at the end so that all |
60 | features that you want are selected. In particular, Gtk2 support |
61 | requires that the Gtk2 headers can be found, and many Linux |
62 | distributions ship without these. The author cannot possibly give |
63 | support for all Linux distributions, so make sure to check this |
64 | thoroughly. Almost all Linux distributions support installing these as |
65 | optional packages through its package manager. |
66 | |
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67 | To use PAM authentication (see below), you also need to install a PAM |
68 | configuration file. On most Linux distributions, the file |
69 | pam.d-doldacond in the contrib directory can be installed as |
70 | /etc/pam.d/doldacond and work perfectly. |
71 | |
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72 | Customizing the configuration file |
73 | |
74 | When installing Dolda Connect, the configuration file is normally |
75 | named /usr/local/etc/doldacond.conf, but it depends on the |
76 | installation prefixes that are chosen. If Dolda Connect will be |
77 | running in multi-user mode, it should remain there, but if it will be |
78 | running in single-user mode, it is recommended that you make a copy of |
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79 | it named ~/.doldacond.conf (if ~/.doldacond.conf does not exist, the |
80 | server will still read the system-wide file, but it will be easier to |
81 | edit a local copy, as you need not be root to do so). |
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82 | |
83 | Edit the configuration file. If you do no other changes, make sure to |
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84 | at least change the "cli.defnick" and "share". Most directives are |
85 | explained in comments in the shipped file and need no further |
86 | explanation here. However, there are a few points to note. |
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87 | |
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88 | If the computer running the daemon is connected directly to the |
89 | Internet, no network configuration will be necessary. However, if it |
90 | is behind a NAT router or similar, some configuration has to be done |
91 | since Direct Connect requires clients to be able to connect to each |
92 | other. There are currently two options available: |
93 | |
94 | * Running in passive mode. No other clients will attempt to connect |
95 | to a client in passive mode, which makes Direct Connect work, but |
96 | with rather severe limitations. Obviously, no two passive mode |
97 | clients can connect to one another. Also, search results are |
98 | proxied through the hub, which drains a hub's bandwidth horribly, |
99 | and is therefore frowned upon by hub owners. Indeed, many hubs do |
100 | not even allow clients in passive mode. If you even so wish to use |
101 | passive mode, set the "net.mode" setting to "1" in the |
102 | configuration file. |
103 | * Tunnel a port through the NAT router and set up Dolda Connect to |
104 | listen specifically to that port. The port to use is set in the |
105 | configuration file using the "dc.udpport" and "dc.tcpport" |
106 | settings (evidently, both UDP and TCP need to be tunneled through |
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107 | the NAT router). The daemon also needs to be told of the public |
108 | IPv4 address of the NAT router, by way of the "net.visibleipv4" |
109 | setting. |
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110 | |
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111 | There is a large number of configuration directives not covered in |
112 | this file, nor in the default configuration file. Please see the |
113 | doldacond.conf(5) manual page for information on the rest. |
114 | |
115 | Running clients over the network |
116 | |
117 | For convenience of setup, the default configuration file disables |
118 | running clients over the network. Using the default configuration |
119 | file, the daemon will only enable clients to connect over a local Unix |
120 | socket. They will use Unix socket credentials passing for |
121 | authentication, for maximum security. It is also likely that many will |
122 | want to keep it that way. However, for those who want to be able to |
123 | run clients over the network, just follow the instructions in this |
124 | section to enable UIs over TCP. |
125 | |
126 | First, you need to choose how you will authenticate to the server. If |
127 | you are an administrator of a Kerberos-enabled network using the MIT |
128 | Kerberos libraries, you can use Kerberos V authentication and get |
129 | secure single sign-on, which gives the best of all worlds, but for |
130 | normal users, there are two choices: |
131 | |
132 | * PAM based password authentication -- The clients will ask for your |
133 | password every time they connect to the server. This option can be |
134 | somewhat cumbersome, but should be perfectly secure. Note, however, |
135 | that the password is transmitted to the server unencrypted. |
136 | * Password-less authentication -- The server will simply trust the |
137 | clients not to lie. This option is completely insecure, but may be |
138 | a better option where all users are trusted and/or Kerberos is not |
139 | available. |
140 | |
141 | PAM authentication is always enabled. To enable password-less |
142 | authentication, set the "auth.authless" setting in the configuration |
143 | file to "1". If your network is not completely trusted (especially the |
144 | host running doldacond is globally accessible via the Internet), you |
145 | really should make sure to set up some firewalling rules. |
146 | |
147 | Note that doldacond does *not* support tcp-wrappers, but it does |
148 | support very simple internal firewalling in the form of the |
149 | "ui.onlylocal" options. When "ui.onlylocal" is set to true, the |
150 | daemon will only accept UI connections over a loopback interface. That |
151 | includes 127.0.0.1, ::ffff:127.0.0.1, ::1 and Unix sockets. |
152 | |
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153 | Starting the daemon |
154 | |
155 | To start the daemon, just run "doldacond" -- as root if you are |
156 | running in multi-user mode, and as your ordinary user if you are |
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157 | running in single-user mode. See the doldacond(8) manual page for more |
158 | detailed information about command-line switches and related |
159 | information. |
160 | |
161 | If you are using the daemon in multi-user mode on Gentoo, you might |
162 | find contrib/gentoo-init.d-doldacond, an init script for Gentoo, |
163 | useful. |
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164 | |
165 | The first time you start the daemon, it will need to calculate the TTH |
166 | hashes on all the files you share (as required by the Direct Connect |
167 | protocol). The TTH calculation process runs with a higher nice value |
168 | (+10) than the server itself, and should therefore not conflict |
169 | terribly with the rest of the system CPU-wise, so that you should be |
170 | able to work normally meanwhile. However, if you have a fast enough |
171 | CPU, the I/O bandwidth required to read all files may slow down your |
172 | system (especially when sharing files from a network mount). The |
173 | server is usable while calculating TTH hashes, but some hubs may not |
174 | allow you in if not all TTH hashes are calculated. |
175 | |
176 | |
177 | |
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178 | This documented was last updated 2007-04-11, reflecting release 0.3 of |
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179 | Dolda Connect. |