#OnioNS - the Onion Name System
Tor-Powered Distributed DNS for Tor Hidden Services
OnioNS is a distributed, privacy-enhanced, metadata-free, and highly usable DNS for Tor hidden services. OnioNS allows hidden service operators to select a meaningful and globally-unique domain name for their service, which users can then reference from the Tor Browser. The system is powered by the Tor network, relies on a distributed database, and provides anonymity to both operators and users. This project aims to address the major usability issue that has been with Tor hidden services since their introduction in 2002.
This repository provides the client-side functionality and the integration with the Tor Browser.
Debian 7 and 8, Ubuntu 14.04 - 15.10, Mint 17 - 17.2, Fedora 21 - 23
Please see the OnioNS-common README for more information.
There are several methods to install the OnioNS software. The method of choice depends on your system. If you are on Ubuntu or an Ubuntu-based system (Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Mint) please use the PPA method. If you are running Debian Wheezy, please use the .deb method. Otherwise, for all other distributions, please install from source.
- Install from PPA
- sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jvictors/tor-dev
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo apt-get install tor-onions-client
This is the recommended method as it's very easy to stay up-to-date with my releases.
- Install from .deb file
I provide builds for Debian Wheezy in the Releases section for several architectures. For other architectures, you may download from my PPA.
- Install from source
- Install tor-onions-common by following these instructions.
- Download and extract the latest release from the Releases page.
- (mkdir build; cd build; cmake ../src; make; sudo make install)
If you are actively developing OnioNS, I have actively prepared two scripts, devBuild.sh and checkBuild.sh. Please see them for more information.
You can cleanup your build with rm -rf build
I strongly recommend that you follow the below procedures to integrate the software into the Tor Browser. This will make it extremely easy to access .tor domains, and I have made the software with the Tor Browser in mind. It is usually not necessary to do this process more than once.
- Open a terminal and navigate to where you have extracted the Tor Browser. For example, on my machine this is ~/tor-browser_en-US but you may have placed it somewhere else. You should see a "Tor Browser" executable and a directory named "Browser".
- mv Browser/TorBrowser/Tor/tor Browser/TorBrowser/Tor/torbin
- ln -s /usr/bin/onions-tbb Browser/TorBrowser/Tor/tor
- mkdir -p Browser/TorBrowser/OnioNS
This replaces the normal Tor binary with a executable that launches the original Tor binary and then the OnioNS software as child processes, allowing the OnioNS software to start when the Tor Browser starts. This initialization is locale-independent, so all locales of the Tor Browser are supported.
The Tor Browser operates as before, but the OnioNS software running in the background allows the Tor Browser to load hidden services under a .tor domain name.
- Open the Tor Browser. OnioNS is compatible with any method of connecting to the Tor network.
- Wait a few seconds for the background software to be ready.
- Visit "example.tor" or any other .tor name that you know to be registered.
- In a moment, the Tor Browser should load a hidden service.
OnioNS simply adds compatibility for .tor domains and lets all other domains go through, so you can browse the web as normal.
If at startup the Tor Browser immediately throws a message saying "Something Went Wrong! Tor is not working in this browser." or if you get a message saying that Tor exited unexpectedly, it most likely means that the OnioNS software was unable to connect to its network. This is a fatal situation, so the software aborts and the Tor Browser throws this message. Please contact me (see below) for assistance.
If you are unable to load "example.tor", it's possible that either the hidden service is down or that the OnioNS software is not running properly on your end. Wait a few seconds, then try again. If it's still down, visit "onions55e7yam27n.onion". If the site loads, you could try closing and reopening the Tor Browser, which may clear the issue. If the site still does not load, please contact me for further assistance.
If you have installed the software and then initialized the Tor Browser (again, a one-time operation) the software should work as intended. However, if something went wrong and you need assistance, please contact kernelcorn on #tor-dev on OFTC IRC, or email kernelcorn at riseup dot net (PGP key 0xC20BEC80). If you would like to report a bug or file an enhancement request, please open a ticket on Github or contact me over IRC or email if you do not have a Github account.
Most of all, I need more testers to verify that the software is stable and reliable. If you find an issue, please report it on Github. I am working on adding unit tests, which should help address many corner-cases and crashes for unexpected input. If are a developer, I gladly accept pull requests.