v0.5.0

Important

Responsible use. Ghostline is provided for research and educational purposes. Its main goals are privacy (keeping DNS queries from being read or logged), protection against DNS spoofing and hijacking, and network diagnostics. You are solely responsible for how you use it and for complying with the laws of your country and your network provider's terms. Do not use Ghostline for any unlawful purpose, including:

• reaching websites, services or content that a competent authority has ordered to be blocked under the law of your country;
• online gambling, copyright infringement, fraud, or spreading content that is prohibited by law;
• attacking, disrupting or getting unauthorized access to any network or system.

Ghostline does not ship, recommend or maintain lists of sites blocked by authorities. Lists and rules you add yourself are your own responsibility. The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind; the authors are not liable for any damage, data loss, service disruption or legal consequences arising from its use. See the Disclaimer and LICENSE.

What's changed in 0.5.0

• Protection levels in the Simple interface: DNS only, DNS + DPI bypass, Maximum (adds the proxy for this PC, with automatic fragmentation on blocked sites) or Custom (your own combination, remembered). Change it any time, also while connected; a line under the levels says what the chosen one does.
• First connect auto-tunes DPI bypass: the first time you connect after installing, Ghostline checks the test sites and, if some are still blocked, auto-tunes DPI bypass on them as one more connect step, then picks the matching level.
• First connect on a network checks every server that does not filter content (about 700, plus the ones you pinned or added) and keeps the fastest; the step shows its progress, and later connects use the result. The DNSCrypt list now ships with the app, so a fresh install has every server.
• New Tools page (with the logs as its first tab):
  • Lookup: ask one domain through several sources at once and see whether the answers agree, are poisoned or just differ by CDN; details prints each answer like dig. The unencrypted ISP DNS source is never ticked for you.
  • Scanner: grade many servers at once — latency over several rounds (median, p90, jitter), packet loss, DNSSEC, ad filtering and poisoning of the test sites. Scan the list with filters or paste addresses (500 servers per scan by default, 50–2000 in options); pin servers, use one, add pasted ones or export a CSV.
  • Cloudflare IP: find Cloudflare addresses that work and are fast on your network (port 443 only, rate-limited, with a download test for the 10 fastest), then copy them or create an ip= rule. Results are kept per network.
  • Stamp: read and build sdns:// stamps, and add them to your servers.
• Backup and move to another PC (Settings): export settings, rules and lists, your servers, the DPI blacklist and the zapret2 learned list to a .ghostline.json file. It never contains your home Wi-Fi name, adapters, proxy passwords, logs or certificates. Import shows what will change first, asks before sni= / connect= rules, turns off Fake SNI, the DNS server, LAN sharing and start with Windows, and puts every file back if writing fails halfway. Ghostline.exe --export <file> does the same from the command line.
• Simple | Full switch under the title bar (the advanced interface is now called Full; older settings are migrated). The sidebar is grouped into basic, advanced and diagnostics; Fake SNI moved to a tab of the Proxy page.
• Guides, READMEs and the release checklist cover the levels, the tools and backup (EN + VI).

Note

The first connect on a network takes 30–60 seconds while Ghostline checks every server; later connects on the same network take a few seconds.

Note

Devices using this PC's DNS lose the internet when it is off or disconnected. iOS has no fallback: with the DoH profile, choose Automatic in Settings › General › VPN & Device Management › DNS (or remove the profile) to get the iPhone back online at home. If this PC is often off, set the iPhone's DNS manually (Wi-Fi › (i) › Configure DNS › Manual) instead of using the profile.

Warning

Antivirus. Windows Defender may flag Ghostline, zapret2 or WinDivert as malware by mistake (Trojan:Win32/Bearfoos.A!ml, Trojan:Win32/Suschil!rfn). If Ghostline is killed while connected, DNS can stay pointed at 127.0.0.1 until you open Ghostline again (it restores DNS on start). If this happens, add the Ghostline folder to Defender's exclusions.

Downloads

File	What it is
ghostline-amd64-installer.exe	Installer (installs WebView2 if missing)
Ghostline-0.5.0-portable.zip	Portable: unzip and run
SHA256SUMS	Checksums for both

Requires Windows 10/11 x64 and administrator rights. Builds are not code-signed yet: verify the SHA-256, then choose More info → Run anyway in SmartScreen.

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Tuyên bố trách nhiệm (Tiếng Việt)

Ghostline được phát triển với mục đích nghiên cứu và học tập về DNS mã hoá, cơ chế lọc mạng và DPI. Mục tiêu chính là bảo vệ quyền riêng tư (truy vấn DNS không bị đọc hay ghi lại), chống giả mạo và chiếm quyền DNS, và chẩn đoán mạng. Người dùng tự chịu hoàn toàn trách nhiệm về cách sử dụng phần mềm, cũng như việc tuân thủ pháp luật nơi mình sinh sống và điều khoản của nhà cung cấp mạng. Không sử dụng Ghostline vào bất kỳ mục đích vi phạm pháp luật nào, bao gồm:

• truy cập trang web, dịch vụ hay nội dung mà cơ quan có thẩm quyền đã yêu cầu chặn theo quy định của pháp luật;
• cờ bạc trực tuyến, vi phạm bản quyền, lừa đảo, hoặc phát tán nội dung bị pháp luật cấm;
• tấn công, gây gián đoạn hoặc truy cập trái phép vào bất kỳ mạng hay hệ thống nào.

Ghostline không đóng gói, không khuyến nghị và không duy trì danh sách các trang bị cơ quan chức năng chặn. Danh sách và rule do người dùng tự thêm thuộc trách nhiệm của người dùng.

Phần mềm được cung cấp "nguyên trạng", không kèm bất kỳ bảo đảm nào. Tác giả không chịu trách nhiệm về bất kỳ thiệt hại, mất mát dữ liệu, gián đoạn dịch vụ hay hệ quả pháp lý nào phát sinh từ việc sử dụng phần mềm.

Full Changelog: v0.4.1...v0.5.0