Chat Server

This is a chat server (also called introduction server) for Retroshare. It allows trying out Retroshare for the first time without having to organise a group of friends. It can also be a kind of "bootstrap" into the Retroshare network.

This server is running at https://retroshare.ch

Dependencies

Backend

• Java 21
• a MySQL server instance (tested with 5.7 and 8.0)

Frontend

• Angular 17

Development

Run the backend locally, either with your IDE using the spring dev profile or with gradle:

./gradlew bootRun

If you want to run a Retroshare-service instance, do:

cd retroshare
docker build -t retroshare --build-arg KEEP_SOURCE=true .

(this can take a while, go have a coffee or something)

Then run it with:

docker run --rm --name retroshare -it -p 127.0.0.1:9092:9092 --mount source=retroshare,target=/root/.retroshare retroshare retroshare-service --jsonApiPort 9092 --jsonApiBindAddress 127.0.0.1

For the frontend:

ng serve

And open a browser to http://localhost:4200

Building

Building for production is typically done by dockerizing the components (but it doesn't necessarily have to be).

If you want to go with docker, install docker-compose and do:

./gradlew bootBuildImage

docker-compose up -d

The frontend has to be deployed manually. Make sure your server is listed in environment.prod.ts, build it with

ng build --configuration production

Then copy the content of dist/chatserver-frontend in your webserver root. Don't forget to setup a proxy in case the backend is running on the same host, for example with Apache:

ProxyPass /v1 http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1
ProxyPassReverse /v1 http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1

You can put the following environment variables into docker-compose.yml to configure the backend to your taste.

Environment variables

Database

• DATABASE_HOST: the hostname to connect to (default: localhost)

• DATABASE_NAME: the database name (default: chatserver)

• DATABASE_USER: the database username (default: chatserver)

• DATABASE_PASSWORD: the database password (default: chatserver)

• DATABASE_USE_SSL: use SSL for the database connection, not needed for localhost (default: false)

Misc

• CHATSERVER_RETROSHARE_SERVICE_URL: the URL of the retroshare-service API (default: http://localhost:9092)

• CHATSERVER_LOCATION_NAME: the name of the location (default: ChatServer)

• CHATSERVER_PROFILE_NAME: the name of the PGP profile (default: retroshare.ch)

• CHATSERVER_API_USERNAME: the username of the retroshare-service API (default: apiuser)

• CHATSERVER_API_PASSWORD: the password of the retroshare-service API (default: randomly generated and stored in the database)

• CHATSERVER_LOBBY_NAME: the name of the public lobby (default: retroshare.ch Key Exchange)

• CHATSERVER_LOBBY_TOPIC: the topic of the public lobby (default: https://retroshare.ch)

• CHATSERVER_LOBBY_CREATE: if true, create the public lobby after 10 minutes of not finding one already on the network. If false, search for it forever (default: true)

• CHATSERVER_MAX_FRIENDS: the maximum number of friends before starting to purge the old ones (default: 30)

• WEB_PASSWORD: password for the API's protected endpoints (default: random per session, printed in the logs upon startup)

Docker images

There are 2 readily available docker images if you don't want to build yourself

docker pull zapek/retroshare-service:0.6.6

docker pull zapek/chatserver:0.1.4

Or use the following docker-compose.yml

version: '3.7'

services:

    chatserver:
        image: zapek/chatserver:0.1.4
        environment:
      - SERVER_PORT=8080
    network_mode: "host"

  retroshare-service:
    image: zapek/retroshare-service:0.6.6
    network_mode: "host"
    volumes: 
      - retroshare:/root/.retroshare
    command: retroshare-service --jsonApiPort 9092 --jsonApiBindAddress 127.0.0.1

volumes:
  retroshare:

Don't forget to have a MySQL instance somewhere.

Note

Retroshare-service fails to use UPNP for some reasons. Make sure you redirect the ports as needed. You can pass --port 6000 to use port 6000 for example, as otherwise it'll pickup a random port which will require you to grep the logs to find out.

If you want to transfer docker images between hosts, use:

docker save -o foo.tar zapek/chatserver:0.1.4

then on the target host

docker load -i foo.tar

If you want the server to stay friend with you forever, change your trust level in the MySQL profile table to MARGINAL or FULL.

Everything was tested on Windows 10 and Linux (Ubuntu 18.04/20.04).