FreenetWiki: Connecting to other Freenet users

Connecting to other Freenet users

Freenet 0.7 works slightly differently to older versions of Freenet. Instead of being automatically connected to other people running Freenet based on a centralized list, you have to manually add people you trust to your Connections list. This is known as a DarkNet, and it makes it more difficult for an adversary to compromise anonymity of the network.

References

To do this, you need to swap your node's reference with a few other people (in turn getting theirs), which can be found on the Darknet page. It should look something like this:

identity=zq1qf564lJKUIYdFAzG-l1234LFUYjM-s5d1vj8anEs
location=0.39841354643039973
testnet=false
myName=This is my node!
lastGoodVersion=Fred,0.7,1.0,1010
sig=594b174dc670e3555a12345693ed45806c9f2351ec289b271cecd6fd87456d96,303df1593173c7cb35478c01e6a6586701b50cbde23cda877fec999d7b43cd91
version=Fred,0.7,1.0,1016
dsaPubKey.y=LlWomcYWo312345Hx76zr8xxwH5y2234pb6AxdEnIbUm7TUto5YUpVNWXcpC6uUCuHDyOjcw55BILEBjGMbvNRWqDwZhGMK52bXMOZCX8JN-qUJjwFYEwxVNJjhI2Dj7euIVeGsXSGheUeboKc3r~NKI2n6MWdvrXXJoiTV4eyPZ6XeFr6bdPtZ2fLfcFv~rXO9-g43QNHJCnAxjF0p649r1Uf-tLJHqNO4Ci9NX68UOqa1sjow3wl1kgT~NRl0ddIvUQtrOaTjHS4b~nYvZZAfSdOO48GWPT1mfIdxaiQL~5Egu2tVp4MRLzlRy21bHI4cI-VjJzQkrCCo2q4BhXVPQ
physical.udp=72.194.102.78:31592
oldark.pubURI=SSK@N7SoSa8MApo0tj39k5S051Zjs5a3GiyuAL652B46-jQ,7Fal5123o0H8gn6Elqv2vg9NDDZI0XCiIoiYwMuXrUo,AQABAAE/ark
oldark.number=178
dsaGroup.g=UaRatn13245QvTlaaAXTMzn1Z15LDTXe-J~gOqXCv0zpz83CVngSkb--bVRuZ1235OFg~ATKcuw8VJJwn1~A9p5jRt2NPj2EM7bu72O85-mFdBhcav8WHJtTbXb4cxNzZaQkbPQUv~gEnuEeMTc80KZVjilQ7wlTIM6GIY~ZJVHMKSIkEU87YBRtIt1R~BJcnaDAKBJv~oXv1PS-6iwQRFMynMEmipfpqDXBTkqaQ8ahiGWA41rY8d4jDhrzIgjvkzfxkkcCpFFOldwW8w8MEecUoRLuhKnY1sm8nnTjNlYLtc1Okeq-ba0mvwygSAf4wxovwY6n1Fuqt8yZe1PDVg
dsaGroup.q=ALF123456R9Y1kQNVBc5kzmk0VvvCWosXY5t9E9S1tN5
dsaGroup.p=AIYIrE132hM38qPjirGGT-PJjWZBHY0q-JxSYyDFQfZQeOhrx4SUpdc~SppnWD~UHym58WyX28eV3YjwkVyc~--H5Tc83hPjx8qQc7kQbrMb~CJy7QBX~YSocKGfioO-pwfRZEDDguYtOJBHPqeenVDErGsfHTCxDDKgL2hYM8Ynj8Kes0OcUzOIVhShFSGbOAjJKjeg82XNXmG1hhdh2tnv8M4jJQ9ViEj425Mrh6O9jXovfPmcdYIr3C~3waHXjQvPgUiK4N5Saf~FOri48fK-PmwFZFc-YSgI9o2-70nVybSnBXlM96QkzU6x4CYFUuZ7-B~je0ofeLdX7xhehuk
ark.pubURI=SSK@47DisjrMpI0e3NDv6J8lBmmnbRblaq3m3qhsff31osw,EVhqY2iwzdYnwtvgL5gh4a-whytatIXqUIahNoMOmfA,AQACAAE/ark
ark.number=11
End

Your reference should include a line beginning physical.udp. This is not essential but is highly recommended. If yours does not, FirewallAndRouterIssues tells you how to rectify.

Swapping References

If you personally know people who already run Freenet, it is best to use their details (see DarkNet). Get them to email their node reference to you (ideally in an encrypted email), or send you the file some other way. You can also create personal cards with your reference to send to a friend. A template is available at http://freenetcard.draketo.de.

If you do not personally know people who already run Freenet, the node should be able to automatically add a few peers for you if you enable the Insecure Strangers mode (see OpenNet).

Adding References

Once you have swapped your reference with someone else's, you must add their reference to your node. Go to the Darknet page in Fproxy, and scroll down to the Add Another Peer section. Paste the reference you received into the box marked Paste there reference here, and then click the Add button. Alternatively, if they put their reference on a public website or sent it to you as a file, you can use the URL or file boxes to achieve the same thing.

Verify the Connection

After adding a new reference, it is a good idea to verify that you have a connection to the other node. Remember that in order for a connection to be made the other node must also add your reference, so be sure that this happens. It generally takes a few minutes to make a new connection.

If after a while there is still no connection, try to reach the owner of the node you are trying to connect to and verify that they added your reference.

Connecting to users using the Text Mode Client Interface

You can control Freenet 0.7 using a command line interface, instead of using the main FProxy webpage. See the Text Mode Client Interface page for more information.

First, be sure that the Text Mode Client Interface is running. Once you have verified that it is, connect to it:

connect to the telnet interface to Freenet by typing this at the command line:

telnet 127.0.0.1 2323

type CONNECT: Hit enter and then copy and paste the ID of the node you want to connect to. (As mentioned above the ID is everything from "lastGoodVersion" to "End".) You should get a response from the node that ID was added. Remember, to connect to a node that node must also add your reference.

type STATUS again. You should now see your new added node/nodes and their state. If you're lucky you will see something like this:

CONNECTED 24.30.37.118:11999 Dalm 0.9093123123143807 Fred,0.7,1.0,232 bias=1.0 reqs: pRO=1.0 (h=2) ins: pRO=0.0 (h=127)