DirectNet / News: Recent posts

This is mainly an interim release before merging some major changes into the code base. 1.0.2 should be more stable and 1.1.0 is in the mix, with big protocol changes planned which should make the network more scalable.

After development for over a year, DirectNet 1.0.0 is released! With support
for encryption, authentication, a GUI, and Gaim 1, this release encompasses
everything I initially invisioned in DirectNet. But that's not the end, of
course! In my persuit of a serverless mesh network instant messaging system, I
have discovered other features that would be nice.

Many post-1.0.0 features are planned, including a console UI that's not dumb,
protocol proxies (a client that routes through to AIM, etc), and the ever-
desired libdirectnet. I plan on separating the core and turning into
libdirectnet.... read more

- Use pthread_cancel instead of signals (fix for Win32).
- Check and use Sleep instead of sleep (fix for Win32).
- Don't wait for other pthreads to close on Win32 (strange
win32-pthreads bug(?)).
- Const correctness.
- a CAPITALIZATION BUG THAT CAUSED IT NOT TO COMPILE ON SOME SYSTEMS
(PARTICULARLY dEBIAN)

Another bugfix (one of these days 1.0.0 will actually be released ;) )
- Properly initialized pthread_lock (fix for Win32)
- Fixed a REALLY nasty bug on receiving connections.

- Fixed a bug in the lost-route detection (probably a NASTY one).
- And another one! (Must ... not ... break ... lost-route detection!)
- Added interruption routes whenever standard routes are added.
- Fixed a freeze in ui-fltk upon trying to send a message to a user
that you don't have a route to.
- Fixed a bug that was especially prevelant with localhost connections.
- A large number of other bugfixes.

A bugfix release.
- Fixed a problem that made GPG malfunction on OpenBSD.
- Got rid of a rather pointless perror()
- Fixed a problem with OSX calling the GUI client.
- Fixed some FLTK issues with fl_ask etc.
- Fixed a potentially nasty buffer overflow with dn_name.
- Removed the outdated and broken enc-gpg (not auth-gpg).

Hoopla!

All zero DirectNet users, please test this :)

There's a hub at hub.imdirect.net

Of course, this release has authentication with GPG (if you have it, optional)

Enjoy!

Authentication through GPG is starting to come together, and is working somewhat stably in CVS. It's already in ui-dumb and ui-fltk, and I'm working on putting it into the gaim plugin in some reasonable manner. Also, the hub needs to be updated to stub it. However, it is somewhat backwards compatible (old clients will still be able to read your messages, it's just a bit annoying because it's in PGP), so there's no reason not to cvs checkout and test!

The only difference between Beta 0.5 and Beta 0.6 is the build system itself, but if you were having issues building Beta 0.5, it's worth a shot!

Too many things to mention .... Gaim plugin, encryption .... it's all there! Celebration :)

Finally, I implemented encryption myself. I am therefore planning for a beta release soon. First I have to do some tests, but it's basically ready!

The encryption requires the Cyfer library. And, as of the next release, network compatibility will go away. In other words, ALPHA 0.4 and BETA 0.5 will be incompatible. Furthermore, if you try to configure beta 0.5 to use no encryption, it will complain (but grudgingly allow you). This should keep the distribution relatively compatible.... read more

I've written a Gaim plugin and it's available in CVS. Anybody interested can checkout CVS and use
./configure --enable-gaim-plugin
Make sure your --prefix is set the same as your Gaim prefix (usu /usr)

To use it, just add an account for DirectNet, and to connect to a server, add a "buddy" with a name such as:
con:hub.imdirect.net
This example is a connection to hub.imdirect.net (of course).... read more

WOOOOOH!!!! GUI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GUI!!!!!!!!!

Oh, sorry, got a bit excited there.

There's a GUI now.

Still no security ... I'm looking in to libgcrypt.

4 weeks it's been since my last release! I was waiting on a UI writer to finish a UI, but that's clearly not happening yet. Anyway, ALPHA 0.3 is released, and has some major improvements.
- autotooled (./configure)
- detection of lost routes
- many internal fixes

Still no encryption though. Anybody want to do that? Winkwink nudgenudge ;)

New in this version:
1) An improved UI
2) Direct connections (in the backend, no UI frontend yet)
3) Some network-strengthening protocols.
Still no encryption, so still be wary of security.

DirectNet has evolved to the degree that it is definately a viable way to chat with coworkers, or buddies across the 'net. Most of the core is in place, and here's what's in the works before BETA:

Direct connections from the UI (/c <name>)
Receiving notice upon having a broken route, and then reforming it
Some form of a buddy list (would have to work in reverse - you can add yourself to others (with their permission), but you can't add people to yours unless they want you to)
File transfer
Chat rooms (haven't worked this out yet)
A new UI! ncurses, GTK+, Qt, any volunteers?... read more

DirectNet ALPHA 0.1, the first (testing) version of DirectNet has been released.
It may be a testing release, but you can:
1) Establish a chat network (with no server!)
2) Send and receive messages, even without a direct connection to the user you're chatting with.

This version doesn't yet support encryption, so be wary of that.