How to possibly integrate Briar in Tails?
Originally created by @syster on #17715 (Redmine)
I’m interested to find out how Briar (p2p by default e2e encrypted messenger that can also work as a meshnet countering some consequences of internet shutdown) can be integrated in Tails.
There are 2 issues, I know out of my head:
- for some functions in needs Port 7000 on localhost (such as messaging
within local network afaik *1)
- Briar comes it’s own Tor plugin, “the ports that briar uses for
connecting to tor are hardcoded: 59050 for the socks port and 59051 for
the control port. the source port of each connection is random - does
that matter?”
theoretical options:
1. Option is to change the firewall settings and give exception to
Briar
2. Option is re-writing some parts of Briar
I’d be interested to hear opinion about Option 1. There’s currently some discourse happening with the devs. of Briar about it. The last comments to Option 1 are:
“I personally don’t see a big issue to let briar run its own white-listed Tor process on Tails. Today’s hardware certainly can handle two Tor processes running.”
“that would certainly be easier from our point of view if it’s achievable”
Since I’m not more then an advanced user of Tails, I’d like to hear an opinion with the required knowledge.
If you answer here, I will forward it into Briar’s chatroom, were that
conversations is also taking part.
To join there by yourself, you can either do so with matrix or
mattermost. Both channels are bridged.
mattermost: https://chat.briarproject.org/briar/channels/town-square
matrix: #freenode_#briar:matrix.org
(should also be at IRC freenode, but not sure)
*1: Nico, the developer of Briar-GTK corrected me:
Your second guess is wrong. Briar doesn't communicate over port 7000. Instead, the briar-headless.jar exposes a REST API/web server at port 7000 which is used for software like Briar GTK to communicate with the Briar core library. I.e., Briar GTK is the interface that allows users to send messages. If a user sends a message, Briar GTK sends that message via port 7000 on localhost to the Briar JAR. The Briar JAR will then do all the Briar magic. Therefore, communication via port 7000 is critical for software like Briar GTK to work, but this port should not be exposed to the internet. I.e., it's fine to have it firewalled. I hope I could clear things up for you. In case you still have questions remaining, feel free to ask!