1 Why not supply a disk image download?
-Why not supply a disk image download?
+Shipping a Freedombone disk image ready to install on a flash disk would be easy, but disk images are relatively opaque. It would be quite easy to hide something nasty within a disk image and the user might never know. To guard against that possibility installing via the freedombone command is a lot more transparent, since it's really just a bash script. You can check the script code to see exactly what it's doing, and the packages are all downloaded from standard Debian repos (you can even choose which one you trust) or git repos. Doing it this way the system is fully auditable, whereas when shipping a disk image it's harder to be confident that no nefarious extras have been added.
2 I don't have a static IP address. Can I still install this system?
-I don't have a static IP address. Can I still install this system?
+Yes. The minimum requirements are to have some hardware that you can install Debian onto and also that you have administrator access to your internet router so that you can forward ports to the system which has Freedombone installed.
@@ -248,9 +261,9 @@ The lack of a static IP address can be worked around by using a dynamic DNS serv3 What is the best hardware to run this system on?
-What is the best hardware to run this system on?
+It was originally designed to run on the Beaglebone Black, but that should be regarded as the most minimal system, because it's single core and has by today's standards a small amount of memory. Obviously the more powerful the hardware is the faster things like web pages (blog, social networking, etc) will be served but the more electricity such a system will require if you're running it 24/7. A good compromise between performance and energy consumption is something like an old netbook. The battery of an old netbook or laptop even gives you UPS capability to keep the system going during brief power outages or cable re-arrangements, and that means using full disk encryption on the server also becomes more practical.
@@ -260,9 +273,9 @@ It was originally designed to run on the Beaglebone Black, but that should be re4 Can I add more users to the system?
-Can I add more users to the system?
+Yes. Freedombone can support a small number of users, for a "friends and family" type of home installation. This gives them access to an email account, XMPP and the blog (depending on whether the variant which you installed includes those). To add a user login as root then run the command:
@@ -282,9 +295,9 @@ Another point is that Freedombone installations are not intended to support many5 How do I remove a user from the system?
-How do I remove a user from the system?
+To remove a user login as root then run the command:
@@ -296,9 +309,9 @@ To remove a user login as root then run the command:6 How do I reset the tripwire?
-How do I reset the tripwire?
+You will get a daily email which indicates which files on the system have changed recently. Once per week the system will install any updates and those may also show up on the list, along with any changes due to installed packages or changed settings. Watch out for any files which change unexpectedly, which could indicate an intruder. To reset the tripwire:
@@ -316,17 +329,17 @@ You will need to press enter a couple of times. Doing this typically once per we7 Is metadata protected?
-Is metadata protected?
+Even when using Freedombone metadata analysis by third parties is still possible. They might have a much harder time knowing what the content is, but they can potentially construct extensive dossiers based upon who communicated with your server when. Metadata leakage is a general problem with most current web systems and it is hoped that more secure technology will become available in future. But for now if metadata protection is your main concern using Freedombone won't help.
8 How do I create email processing rules?
-How do I create email processing rules?
+You can administer email in the traditional manner by editing folders or procmail rules, but for convenience some commands are available to make that process simpler. See the relevant manpages for more details.
@@ -335,39 +348,39 @@ You can administer email in the traditional manner by editing folders or procmai9 Why isn't dynamic DNS working?
-Why isn't dynamic DNS working?
+If you run the command:
@@ -447,9 +460,9 @@ http://httpbin.org/ip10 How do I change my encryption settings?
-How do I change my encryption settings?
+Suppose that some new encryption vulnerability has been announced and that you need to change your encryption settings. Maybe an algorithm thought to be secure is now no longer so and you need to remove it. You can change your settings by doing the following:
@@ -467,9 +480,9 @@ You will then be able to edit the crypto settings for all of the installed appli11 How do I get a domain name?
-How do I get a domain name?
+Suppose that you have bought a domain name (rather than using a free subdomain on freedns) and you want to use that instead.
@@ -537,11 +550,11 @@ You should now be able to send an email from postmaster@mynewdomainname a12 How do I get a "real" SSL certificate?
-How do I get a "real" SSL certificate?
+-You can obtain a free "official" (as in recognised by default by web browsers) SSL certificate from StartSSL. You will first need to have bought a domain name, since it's not possible to obtain one for a freedns subdomain, so see Using your own domain for details of how to do that. You should also have tested that you can send email to the domain and receive it on the Freedombone (via Mutt or any other email client). +You can obtain a free "official" (as in recognised by default by web browsers) SSL certificate from StartSSL. You will first need to have bought a domain name, since it's not possible to obtain one for a freedns subdomain, so see Using your own domain for details of how to do that. You should also have tested that you can send email to the domain and receive it on the Freedombone (via Mutt or any other email client).
@@ -558,10 +571,10 @@ Now we can generate the certificate request as follows.
export HOSTNAME=mydomainname.com -openssl genrsa -out /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key 2048 -chown root:ssl-cert /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key -chmod 440 /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key +export HOSTNAME=mydomainname.com +openssl genrsa -out /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key 2048 +chown root:ssl-cert /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key +chmod 440 /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key mkdir /etc/ssl/requests
openssl req -new -sha256 -key /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key -out /etc/ssl/requests/$HOSTNAME.csr +openssl req -new -sha256 -key /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key -out /etc/ssl/requests/$HOSTNAME.csr
cat /etc/ssl/requests/$HOSTNAME.csr
+cat /etc/ssl/requests/$HOSTNAME.csr
editor /etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt
+editor /etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt
mkdir /etc/ssl/roots mkdir /etc/ssl/chains -wget "http://www.startssl.com/certs/ca.pem" --output-document="/etc/ssl/roots/startssl-root.ca" -wget "http://www.startssl.com/certs/sub.class1.server.ca.pem" --output-document="/etc/ssl/chains/startssl-sub.class1.server.ca.pem" -wget "http://www.startssl.com/certs/sub.class2.server.ca.pem" --output-document="/etc/ssl/chains/startssl-sub.class2.server.ca.pem" -wget "http://www.startssl.com/certs/sub.class3.server.ca.pem" --output-document="/etc/ssl/chains/startssl-sub.class3.server.ca.pem" -ln -s "/etc/ssl/roots/startssl-root.ca" "/etc/ssl/roots/$HOSTNAME-root.ca" -ln -s "/etc/ssl/chains/startssl-sub.class1.server.ca.pem" "/etc/ssl/chains/$HOSTNAME.ca" -cp "/etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt" "/etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt+chain+root" -test -e "/etc/ssl/chains/$HOSTNAME.ca" && cat "/etc/ssl/chains/$HOSTNAME.ca" >> "/etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt+chain+root" -test -e "/etc/ssl/roots/$HOSTNAME-root.ca" && cat "/etc/ssl/roots/$HOSTNAME-root.ca" >> "/etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt+chain+root" +wget "http://www.startssl.com/certs/ca.pem" --output-document="/etc/ssl/roots/startssl-root.ca" +wget "http://www.startssl.com/certs/sub.class1.server.ca.pem" --output-document="/etc/ssl/chains/startssl-sub.class1.server.ca.pem" +wget "http://www.startssl.com/certs/sub.class2.server.ca.pem" --output-document="/etc/ssl/chains/startssl-sub.class2.server.ca.pem" +wget "http://www.startssl.com/certs/sub.class3.server.ca.pem" --output-document="/etc/ssl/chains/startssl-sub.class3.server.ca.pem" +ln -s "/etc/ssl/roots/startssl-root.ca" "/etc/ssl/roots/$HOSTNAME-root.ca" +ln -s "/etc/ssl/chains/startssl-sub.class1.server.ca.pem" "/etc/ssl/chains/$HOSTNAME.ca" +cp "/etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt" "/etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt+chain+root" +test -e "/etc/ssl/chains/$HOSTNAME.ca" && cat "/etc/ssl/chains/$HOSTNAME.ca" >> "/etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt+chain+root" +test -e "/etc/ssl/roots/$HOSTNAME-root.ca" && cat "/etc/ssl/roots/$HOSTNAME-root.ca" >> "/etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt+chain+root"
mkdir /etc/ssl/backups mkdir /etc/ssl/backups/certs mkdir /etc/ssl/backups/private -cp /etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME* /etc/ssl/backups/certs/ -cp /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME* /etc/ssl/backups/private/ +cp /etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME* /etc/ssl/backups/certs/ +cp /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME* /etc/ssl/backups/private/ chmod -R 400 /etc/ssl/backups/certs/* chmod -R 400 /etc/ssl/backups/private/*@@ -650,9 +663,9 @@ Remove the certificate password, so if the server is rebooted then it won't wait
openssl rsa -in /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key -out /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.new.key -cp /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.new.key /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key -shred -zu /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.new.key +openssl rsa -in /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key -out /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.new.key +cp /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.new.key /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.key +shred -zu /etc/ssl/private/$HOSTNAME.new.key
cat /etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt /etc/ssl/chains/startssl-sub.class1.server.ca.pem > /etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.bundle.crt +cat /etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.crt /etc/ssl/chains/startssl-sub.class1.server.ca.pem > /etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.bundle.crt
mkdir /etc/ssl/mycerts
-cp /etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.bundle.crt /etc/ssl/mycerts
+cp /etc/ssl/certs/$HOSTNAME.bundle.crt /etc/ssl/mycerts
cat /etc/ssl/mycerts/*.crt > /etc/ssl/freedombone-bundle.crt
tar -czvf /etc/ssl/freedombone-certs.tar.gz /etc/ssl/mycerts/*.crt
@@ -685,7 +698,7 @@ Edit your configuration file.
editor /etc/nginx/sites-available/$HOSTNAME
+editor /etc/nginx/sites-available/$HOSTNAME
-Now visit your web site at https://mydomainname.com and you should notice that there is no certificate warning displayed. You will now be able to install systems which don't allow the use of self-signed certificates, such as Hubzilla. +Now visit your web site at https://mydomainname.com/ and you should notice that there is no certificate warning displayed. You will now be able to install systems which don't allow the use of self-signed certificates, such as Hubzilla.
13 How do I renew a StartSSL certificate?
-How do I renew a StartSSL certificate?
+The StartSSL certificates last for a year. You can check the expiry date of your current certificate/s by going to your site and if you're using Firefox then click on the lock icon, select "more information" then "view certificate".
@@ -731,7 +744,7 @@ Make sure that you have the StartSSL certificate which was created when you init-Now go to startssl.com and click on the keys icon on the right hand side to log in. Select the Control panel then Validations Wizard and choose Email address validation. Enter your email address, then wait for the validation email to show up in your inbox. It will contain a code when you can then enter. +Now go to startssl.com and click on the keys icon on the right hand side to log in. Select the Control panel then Validations Wizard and choose Email address validation. Enter your email address, then wait for the validation email to show up in your inbox. It will contain a code when you can then enter.
@@ -787,9 +800,9 @@ The new certificate will then be installed.
14 Why use self-signed certificates?
-Why use self-signed certificates?
+Almost everywhere on the web you will read that self-signed certificates are worthless. They bring up scary looking browser warnings and gurus will advise you not to use them. Self-signed certificates are quite useful though. What the scary warnings mean - and it would be good if they explained this more clearly - is that you have an encrypted connection established but there is no certainty about who that connection is with. The usual solution to this is to get a "real" SSL certificate from one of the certificate authorities, but it's far from clear that such authorities can be trusted. There have been various scandals involving such organisations, and it does not seem plausible to assume that they are somehow immune to the sort of treatment which Lavabit received. So although most internet users have been trained to look for the lock icon as an indication that the connection is secured that belief may not always be well founded.
@@ -803,17 +816,17 @@ For now a self-signed certificate will probably in most cases protect your commu15 Why not use the services of $company instead? They took the Seppuku pledge
-Why not use the services of $company instead? They took the Seppuku pledge
+-That pledge is utterly worthless. Years ago people trusted Google in the same sort of way, because they promised not be be evil and because a lot of the engineers working for them seemed like honest types who were "on our side". Post-nymwars and post-PRISM we know exactly how much Google cared about the privacy and security of its users. But Google is only one particular example. In general don't trust pledges made by companies, even if the people running them seem really sincere. +That pledge is utterly worthless. Years ago people trusted Google in the same sort of way, because they promised not be be evil and because a lot of the engineers working for them seemed like honest types who were "on our side". Post-nymwars and post-PRISM we know exactly how much Google cared about the privacy and security of its users. But Google is only one particular example. In general don't trust pledges made by companies, even if the people running them seem really sincere.
16 Why does my email keep getting rejected as spam by Gmail/etc?
-Why does my email keep getting rejected as spam by Gmail/etc?
+Welcome to the world of email. Email is really the archetypal decentralized service, developed during the early days of the internet. In principle anyone can run an email server, and that's exactly what you're doing with Freedombone. Email is very useful, but it has a big problem, and that's that the protocols are totally insecure. That made it easy for spammers to do their thing, and in response highly elaborate spam filtering and blocking systems were developed. Chances are that your emails are being blocked in this way. Sometimes the blocking is so indisciminate that entire countries are excluded. What can you do about it? Unless you control the block list at the receiving end probably you can't do anything. There is zero accountability for such blocking, and you can't just contact someone and say "hey, I'm not a spammer". This system works well for the big internet companies because it effectively centralises email to a few well-known brand names and keeps any independent servers out.
@@ -825,10 +838,40 @@ So the situation with email presently is pretty bad, and there's a clear selectiCreated: 2015-10-27 Tue 11:37
-Emacs 24.4.1 (Org mode 8.2.10)
- + + + +