1 Dolda Connect - Installation
3 Three main steps are required in order to get Dolda Connect up and
6 1. Compile and install the sources
7 2. Customize the configuration file
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.
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.
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.
36 Compiling and installing the sources
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.
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:
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
56 * --enable-gaimplugin selects the Gaim chat plugin for compilation.
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.
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.
72 Customizing the configuration file
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
79 it named ~/.doldacond (if ~/.doldacond does not exist, the server will
80 still read the system-wide file, but it will be easier to edit a local
81 copy, as you need not be root to do so).
83 Edit the configuration file. If you do no other changes, make sure to
84 at least change the "cli.defnick", "share" and "user" settings. Most
85 directives are explained in comments in the shipped file and need no
86 further explanation here. However, there are a few points to note.
88 First, you need to choose how you will authenticate to the server. If
89 you are an administrator of a Kerberos-enabled network using the MIT
90 Kerberos libraries, you can use Kerberos V authentication and get
91 secure single sign-on, which gives the best of all worlds, but for
92 normal users, there are two choices:
94 * PAM based password authentication -- The clients will ask for your
95 password every time they connect to the server. This option can be
96 somewhat cumbersome, but should be perfectly secure.
97 * Password-less authentication -- The server will simply trust the
98 clients not to lie. This option is completely insecure, but may be
99 a better option where all users are trusted and/or Kerberos is not
102 PAM authentication is always enabled. To enable password-less
103 authentication, set the "auth.authless" setting in the configuration
104 file to "1". It is also greatly recommended that the "ui.onlylocal"
105 setting be set to "1" when using password-less authentication, so that
106 connections are only accepted from localhost. If you use password-less
107 authentication without turning on "ui.onlylocal", you should make sure
108 that you *really* know what you are doing before proceeding.
110 If the computer running the daemon is connected directly to the
111 Internet, no network configuration will be necessary. However, if it
112 is behind a NAT router or similar, some configuration has to be done
113 since Direct Connect requires clients to be able to connect to each
114 other. There are currently two options available:
116 * Running in passive mode. No other clients will attempt to connect
117 to a client in passive mode, which makes Direct Connect work, but
118 with rather severe limitations. Obviously, no two passive mode
119 clients can connect to one another. Also, search results are
120 proxied through the hub, which drains a hub's bandwidth horribly,
121 and is therefore frowned upon by hub owners. Indeed, many hubs do
122 not even allow clients in passive mode. If you even so wish to use
123 passive mode, set the "net.mode" setting to "1" in the
125 * Tunnel a port through the NAT router and set up Dolda Connect to
126 listen specifically to that port. The port to use is set in the
127 configuration file using the "dc.udpport" and "dc.tcpport"
128 settings (evidently, both UDP and TCP need to be tunneled through
133 To start the daemon, just run "doldacond" -- as root if you are
134 running in multi-user mode, and as your ordinary user if you are
135 running in single-user mode.
137 The first time you start the daemon, it will need to calculate the TTH
138 hashes on all the files you share (as required by the Direct Connect
139 protocol). The TTH calculation process runs with a higher nice value
140 (+10) than the server itself, and should therefore not conflict
141 terribly with the rest of the system CPU-wise, so that you should be
142 able to work normally meanwhile. However, if you have a fast enough
143 CPU, the I/O bandwidth required to read all files may slow down your
144 system (especially when sharing files from a network mount). The
145 server is usable while calculating TTH hashes, but some hubs may not
146 allow you in if not all TTH hashes are calculated.
150 This documented was last updated 2006-09-04, reflecting release 0.2 of