IRC Server as Tor Hidden Service on OpenBSD

Man I wished we can go back to IRC, compared to the shitshow that is discord ! Slow client, stupid login circle-jerks, desktop-clients-vs-webclient and and and.

Yea yea I'm old, but dammit in "my day", it was easier to communicate and the "tech" didn't get in your way.

IRC was basically a "done product" and new features were usually spearheaded via "scripts" from users with a need.

It seems the "new features" in discord are product-managers trying to justify their job and keep adding feature-upon-feature and making it more of a xmass-tree-met-a-coder-on-crack situation !

I wished there was a product manager (I'm looking at you Spotify, netflix etc) that said, ok these next few quarters we are going to reward ourselves for 'REMOVING Features'.

We need the area of "Bring your own client" to really take off.

Ok i'm done venting (one should not comment before coffee on HN) :P

Re: IRC Server as Tor Hidden Service on OpenBSD

#5

Post by anthk » Sat, Nov 05, 2022, 10:08 AM UTC

Not a bad guide.

However, never, EVER change your root login shell in OpenBSD. You've just opened a can of worms. Set up doas for that, and keep using zsh as your regular user if you want. Simple /etc/doas.conf:

      permit :wheel

Use nvi from packages (it's nvi2 actually, base vi it's nvi) instead of nvim, much faster. It's basically base vi with UTF-8 support. Run :exusage and :viusage from within nvi. Also, my ~/.exrc:

    set showmode ru ts=2 
    set sw=2

set iclower

Re: IRC Server as Tor Hidden Service on OpenBSD

#6

Post by jazzyjackson » Sat, Nov 05, 2022, 10:47 AM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #3

drKarl wrote: post #2

It's hidden, but is it encrypted?

All hidden services encrypt the connection (its part of the tor protocol), so yes.

In case the parent meant "end to end" encrypted, no, of course the IRC server can see all the messages, but if you're the one setting up the chatroom for you and your friends, it's a bit of a moot point, the chat will be encrypted and anonymous as far as anyone outside the chat is concerned.

Re: IRC Server as Tor Hidden Service on OpenBSD

#7

Post by hkt » Sat, Nov 05, 2022, 11:10 AM UTC

jazzyjackson wrote: post #6

bawolff wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All hidden services encrypt the connection (its part of the tor protocol), so yes.

In case the parent meant "end to end" encrypted, no, of course the IRC server can see all the messages, but if you're the one setting up the chatroom for you and your friends, it's a bit of a moot point, the chat will be encrypted and anonymous as far as anyone outside the chat is concerned.

Various IRC clients have OTR plugins though, for the truly paranoid:

https://irssi.org/documentation/help/otr/

https://github.com/onezero1/xchat-otr

There's more listed here from the people who built and designed the libraries:

https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/software.php

NB, OTR is old and I can't vouch for its crypto, do your research if for some reason you're connecting to an irc server with a hostile admin where you absolutely have to exchange compromising information. (Duh)

Re: IRC Server as Tor Hidden Service on OpenBSD

#8

Post by hsbauauvhabzb » Sat, Nov 05, 2022, 11:11 AM UTC

anthk wrote: post #5

Not a bad guide. However, never, EVER change your root login shell in OpenBSD. You've just opened a can of worms. Set up doas for that, and keep using zsh as your regular user if you want. Simple /etc/doas.conf: permit :wheel Use nvi from packages (it's nvi2 actually, base vi it's nvi) instead of nvim, much faster. It's basically base vi with UTF-8 support. Run :exusage and :viusage from within nvi. Also, my ~/.exrc:…

What’s bad about the root shell?

Re: IRC Server as Tor Hidden Service on OpenBSD

#9

Post by PetitSasquatch » Sat, Nov 05, 2022, 11:24 AM UTC

There's one important step missing from the guide, for newcomers to OpenBSD anyway:

man afterboot

Re: IRC Server as Tor Hidden Service on OpenBSD

#10

Post by mwest » Sat, Nov 05, 2022, 11:25 AM UTC

Thanks for the guide!

I've always felt setting up the server is the easy part. The more complicated bit is setting up the clients, especially for friends who aren't as tech savvy, or just don't want to bother figuring out all the moving parts.

I see you mention client setup in passing at the end, but do you have a suggestions for a more complete guide for setting up things client-side? I've yet to find one.