zeronet-conservancy

(NOTE THAT TRANSLATIONS ARE USUALLY BEHIND THIS FILE)

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zeronet-conservancy is a fork/continuation of ZeroNet project (that has been abandoned by its creator) that is dedicated to sustaining existing p2p network and developing its values of decentralization and freedom, while gradually switching to a better designed network

No active maintainer warning

This fork was created and maintained by @caryoscelus, but due to vanishing interest and in order to avoid having another one-person project, the development is limitted.

Why fork?

During onion-v3 switch crisis, we needed a fork that worked with onion-v3 and didn't depend on trust to one or two people. This fork started from fulfilling that mission, implementing minimal changes to ZeroNet/py3 branch which are easy to audit by anyone. While you can still use the early releases of the fork to get onion-v3 working, the goal of this fork has since shifted and we're dedicated to solving more problems and improving user experience and security all over, until the brand new, completely transparent and audited network is ready and this project can be put to rest

Why 0net?

• We believe in open, free, and uncensored networks and communication.
• No single point of failure: Site remains online so long as at least 1 peer is serving it.
• No hosting costs: Sites are served by visitors.
• Impossible to shut down: It's nowhere because it's everywhere.
• Fast and works offline: You can access the site even if Internet is unavailable.

Features

• Real-time updated sites
• Clone websites in one click
• Password-less authorization using private/public keys
• Built-in SQL server with P2P data synchronization: allows easier dynamic site development
• Anonymity: Tor network support with .onion hidden services (including onion-v3 support)
• TLS encrypted connections (through clearnet)
• Automatic uPnP port opening (if opted in)
• Plugin for multiuser (openproxy) support
• Works with any modern browser/OS
• Works offline and can be synced via alternative transports (or when connection is back)

How does it work?

• After starting zeronet.py you will be able to visit zeronet sites using http://127.0.0.1:43110/{zeronet_address} (eg. http://127.0.0.1:43110/1MCoA8rQHhwu4LY2t2aabqcGSRqrL8uf2X/).
• When you visit a new zeronet site, it tries to find peers using the BitTorrent network so it can download the site files (html, css, js...) from them.
• Each visited site is also served by you.
• Every site contains a content.json file which holds all other files in a sha512 hash and a signature generated using the site's private key.
• If the site owner (who has the private key for the site address) modifies the site, then he/she signs the new content.json and publishes it to the peers. Afterwards, the peers verify the content.json integrity (using the signature), they download the modified files and publish the new content to other peers.

Following links relate to original ZeroNet:

• Slideshow about ZeroNet cryptography, site updates, multi-user sites »
• Frequently asked questions »
• ZeroNet Developer Documentation » (getting outdated)

How to join

Install from your distribution repository

• NixOS: zeronet-conservancy packages search (and see below)
• ArchLinux: latest release, fresh git version

Install from Nix package manager (Linux or MacOS)

• install & configure nix package manager (if needed)
• nix-env -iA nixpkgs.zeronet-conservancy

or add zeronet-conservancy to your system configuration if you're on NixOS

(thanks @fgaz for making & maintaining the package)

Install from source

System dependencies

Generic unix-like (including mac os x)

Install autoconf and other basic development tools, python3 and pip, then proceed to "building python dependencies" (if running fails due to missing dependency, please report it/make pull request to fix dependency list)

Apt-based (debian, ubuntu, etc)

• sudo apt update
• sudo apt install pkg-config libffi-dev python3-pip python3-venv python3-dev build-essential

Red Hat and Fedora based

• yum install epel-release -y 2>/dev/null
• yum install git python3 python3-wheel

Fedora based dandified

• sudo dnf install git python3-pip python3-wheel -y

openSUSE

• sudo zypper install python3-pip python3-setuptools python3-wheel

Arch and Manjaro based

• sudo pacman -S git python-pip -v --no-confirm

Android/Termux

• install Termux (in Termux you can install packages via pkg install <package-names>)
• pkg update
• pkg install python automake git binutils libtool
• (on an older android versions you may also need to install) pkg install openssl-tool libcrypt clang
• (if you've installed the above packages and still run into launch issues, please report)
• (optional) pkg install tor
• (optional) run tor via tor --ControlPort 9051 --CookieAuthentication 1 command (you can then open new session by swiping to the right)

Building python dependencies, venv & running

• clone this repo (NOTE: on Android/Termux you should clone it into "home" folder of Termux, because virtual environment cannot live in storage/)
• python3 -m venv venv (make python virtual environment, the last venv is just a name, if you use different you should replace it in later commands)
• source venv/bin/activate (activate environment)
• python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt (install dependencies)
• python3 zeronet.py (run zeronet-conservancy!)
• open the landing page in your browser by navigating to: http://127.0.0.1:43110/
• to start it again from fresh terminal, you need to navigate to repo directory and:
• source venv/bin/activate
• python3 zeronet.py

(alternatively) On NixOS

• clone this repo
• nix-shell '<nixpkgs>' -A zeronet-conservancy to enter shell with installed dependencies
• ./zeronet.py

(alternatively) Build Docker image

• build 0net image: docker build -t 0net-conservancy:latest . -f Dockerfile
• or build 0net image with integrated tor: docker build -t 0net-conservancy:latest . -f Dockerfile.integrated_tor
• and run it: docker run --rm -it -v </path/to/0n/data/directory>:/app/data -p 43110:43110 -p 26552:26552 0net-conservancy:latest
• /path/to/0n/data/directory - directory, where all data will be saved, including your secret certificates. If you run it with production mode, do not remove this folder!
• or you can run it with docker-compose: docker compose up -d 0net-conservancy up two containers - 0net and tor separately.
• or: docker compose up -d 0net-tor for run 0net and tor in one container. (please check if these instructions are still accurate)

Alternative one-liner (by @ssdifnskdjfnsdjk) (installing python dependencies globally)

Clone Github repository and install required Python modules. First edit zndir path at the begining of the command, to be the path where you want to store zeronet-conservancy:

zndir="/home/user/myapps/zeronet" ; if [[ ! -d "$zndir" ]]; then git clone --recursive "https://github.com/zeronet-conservancy/zeronet-conservancy.git" "$zndir" && cd "$zndir"||exit; else cd "$zndir";git pull origin master; fi; cd "$zndir" && pip install -r requirements.txt|grep -v "already satisfied"; echo "Try to run: python3 $(pwd)/zeronet.py"

(This command can also be used to keep zeronet-conservancy up to date)

Alternative script

• after installing general dependencies and cloning repo (as above), run start-venv.sh which will create a virtual env for you and install python requirements
• more convenience scripts to be added soon

(unofficial) Windows OS build

Download and extract .zip archive zeronet-conservancy-0.7.10-unofficial-win64.zip

Building under Windows OS

(These instructions are work-in-progress, please help us test it and improve it!)

• install python from https://www.python.org/downloads/
• install some windows compiler suitable for python , this proved to be the most difficult part for me as non-windows user (see here https://wiki.python.org/moin/WindowsCompilers and i'll link more references later)
• [optionally to get latest dev version] install git from https://git-scm.com/downloads
• [optionally to use tor for better connectivity and anonymization] install tor browser from https://www.torproject.org/download/
• open git bash console
• type/copypaste git clone https://github.com/zeronet-conservancy/zeronet-conservancy.git into command line
• wait till git downloads latest dev version and continue in console
• cd zeronet-conservancy
• python -m venv venv (create virtual python environment)
• venv\Scripts\activate (this activates the environment)
• pip install -r requirements.txt (install python dependencies) (some users reported that this command doesn't successfully install requirements and only manual installation of dependencies one by one works)
• (NOTE: if previous step fails, it most likely means you haven't installed c/c++ compiler successfully)
• [optional for tor for better connectivity and anonymity] launch Tor Browser
• (NOTE: windows might show a window saying it blocked access to internet for "security reasons" — you should allow the access)
• python zeronet.py --tor_proxy 127.0.0.1:9150 --tor_controller 127.0.0.1:9151 (launch zeronet-conservancy!)
• [for full tor anonymity launch this instead] python zeronet.py --tor_proxy 127.0.0.1:9150 --tor_controller 127.0.0.1:9151 --tor always
• navigate to http://127.0.0.1:43110 in your favourite browser!

To build .exe

• follow the same steps as above, but additionally
• pip install pyinstaller
• pyinstaller -p src -p plugins --hidden-import merkletools --hidden-import lib.bencode_open --hidden-import Crypt.Crypt --hidden-import Db.DbQuery --hidden-import lib.subtl --hidden-import lib.subtl.subtl --hidden-import sockshandler --add-data "src;src" --add-data "plugins;plugins" --clean zeronet.py
• dist/zeronet should contain working zeronet.exe!

Current limitations

• File transactions are not compressed
• No private sites
• No DHT support
• No I2P support
• Centralized elements like zeroid (we're working on this!)
• No reliable spam protection (and on this too)
• Doesn't work directly from browser (one of the top priorities for mid-future)
• No data transparency
• No reproducible builds
• No on-disk encryption
• No reproducible builds (hence no builds beyond certain GNU/Linux distributions)

How can I create a ZeroNet site?

• Click on ⋮ > "Create new, empty site" menu item on the dashboard.
• You will be redirected to a completely new site that is only modifiable by you!
• You can find and modify your site's content in data/[yoursiteaddress] directory
• After the modifications open your site, drag the topright "0" button to the left, then press sign and publish button on the bottom

Next steps: ZeroNet Developer Documentation

Help this project stay alive

Become a maintainer

We need more maintainers! Become one today! You don't need to know how to code, there's a lot of other work to do.

Make builds for your platforms

We need reproducible stand-alone builds for major platforms, as well as presense in various FLOSS repositories. If you're using one of Linux distributions which don't have packages yet, why not make a package for it or (if you don't know how) ask a maintainer now?

Fix bugs & add features

We've decided to go ahead and make a perfect p2p web, so we need more help implementing it.

Make your site/bring your content

We know the documentation is lacking, but we try our best to support anyone who wants to migrate. Don't hesitate to ask.

Use it and spread the word

Make sure to tell people why do you use 0net and this fork in particular! People need to know their alternatives.

Financially support maintainers

This fork was created and maintained by @caryoscelus. You can see ways to donate to them on https://caryoscelus.github.io/donate/ (or check sidebar if you're reading this on github for more ways). As our team grows, we will create team accounts on friendly crowdfunding platforms as well.

If you want to make sure your donation is recognized as donation for this project, there is a dedicated bitcoin address for that, too: 1Kjuw3reZvxRVNs27Gen7jPJYCn6LY7Fg6. And if you want to stay more anonymous and private, a Monero wallet: 4AiYUcqVRH4C2CVr9zbBdkhRnJnHiJoypHEsq4N7mQziGUoosPCpPeg8SPr87nvwypaRzDgMHEbWWDekKtq8hm9LBmgcMzC

If you want to donate in a different way, feel free to contact maintainer or create an issue

We're using GitHub under protest

This project is currently hosted on GitHub. This is not ideal; GitHub is a proprietary, trade-secret system that is not Free/Libre and Open Souce Software (FLOSS). We are deeply concerned about using a proprietary system like GitHub to develop our FLOSS project. We have an open issue to track moving away from GitHub in the long term. We urge you to read about the Give up GitHub campaign from the Software Freedom Conservancy to understand some of the reasons why GitHub is not a good place to host FOSS projects.

If you are a contributor who personally has already quit using GitHub, feel free to check out from our mirror on notabug and develop there or send git patches directly to project maintainer via preffered contact channel.

Any use of this project's code by GitHub Copilot, past or present, is done without our permission. We do not consent to GitHub's use of this project's code in Copilot.