tinc/README

This is the README file for tinc version 1.1pre2. Installation
instructions may be found in the INSTALL file.

tinc is Copyright (C) 1998-2011 by:

Ivo Timmermans,
Guus Sliepen <guus@tinc-vpn.org>,
and others.

For a complete list of authors see the AUTHORS file.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version. See the file COPYING for more details.


This is a pre-release
---------------------

Please note that this is NOT a stable release. Until version 1.1.0 is released,
please use one of the 1.0.x versions if you need a stable version of tinc.

Although tinc 1.1 will be protocol compatible with tinc 1.0.x, the
functionality of the tincctl program may still change, and the control socket
protocol is not fixed yet.


Security statement
------------------

This version uses an experimental and unfinished cryptographic protocol. Use
it at your own risk.


Compatibility
-------------

Version 1.1pre2 is compatible with 1.0pre8, 1.0 and later, but not with older
versions of tinc.

When the ExperimentalProtocol option is used, tinc is still compatible with
1.0.X and 1.1pre2 itself, but not with any other 1.1preX version.


Requirements
------------

Either OpenSSL (http://www.openssl.org/) or libgcrypt
(http://www.gnupg.org/download/#libgcrypt).

The zlib library is used for optional compression. You can find it at
http://www.gzip.org/zlib/.

The lzo library is also used for optional compression. You can find it at
http://www.oberhumer.com/opensource/lzo/.

Since 1.1, the libevent library is used for the main event loop. You can find
it at http://monkey.org/~provos/libevent/.

In order to compile tinc, you will need a GNU C compiler environment. Please
ensure you have the latest stable versions of all the required libraries.


Features
--------

This version of tinc supports multiple virtual networks at once. To
use this feature, you may supply a netname via the -n or --net
options. The standard locations for the config files will then be
/etc/tinc/<net>/.

tincd regenerates its encryption key pairs. It does this on the first
activity after the keys have expired. This period is adjustable in the
configuration file, and the default time is 3600 seconds (one hour).

This version supports multiple subnets at once. They are also sorted
on subnet mask size. This means that it is possible to have
overlapping subnets on the VPN, as long as their subnet mask sizes
differ.

Since pre5, tinc can operate in several routing modes. The default mode,
"router", works exactly like the older version, and uses Subnet lines to
determine the destination of packets. The other two modes, "switch" and "hub",
allow the tinc daemons to work together like a single network switch or hub.
This is useful for bridging networks. The latter modes only work properly on
Linux, FreeBSD and Windows.

The algorithms used for encryption and generating message authentication codes
can now be changed in the configuration files. All cipher and digest algorithms
supported by OpenSSL can be used. Useful ciphers are "blowfish" (default),
"bf-ofb", "des", "des3", etcetera. Useful digests are "sha1" (default), "md5",
etcetera.

Support for routing IPv6 packets has been added. Just add Subnet lines with
IPv6 addresses (without using :: abbreviations) and use ifconfig or ip (from
the iproute package) to give the virtual network interface corresponding IPv6
addresses. tinc does not provide autoconfiguration for IPv6 hosts, if you need
it use radvd or zebra.

It is also possible to make tunnels to other tinc daemons over IPv6 networks,
if the operating system supports IPv6.  tinc will automatically use both IPv6
and IPv4 when available, but this can be changed by adding the option
"AddressFamily = ipv4" or "AddressFamily = ipv6" to the tinc.conf file.

Normally, when started tinc will detach and run in the background. In a native
Windows environment this means tinc will intall itself as a service, which will
restart after reboots.  To prevent tinc from detaching or running as a service,
use the -D option.