README.win32

                       Welcome to GNUnet


What is GNUnet?
===============

GNUnet is peer-to-peer framework focusing on security.  The first and
primary application for GNUnet is anonymous file-sharing.  GNUnet is
currently developed by a worldwide group of independent free software
developers.  GNUnet is a part of the GNU project (http://www.gnu.org/).

This is a BETA release.  The network has not been tested on a large
scale yet.  While there are no known significant bugs, we are still
changing significant aspects of the system in any other version.  Bugs
are common and the documentation may not be adequate for unexperienced
users.

For a longer description of the GNUnet System see our webpages
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnunet/ and http://gnunet.org/.


Configuration
=============

GNUnet uses two types of configuration files, one for the daemon
(called gnunetd.conf) and one for each user (gnunet.conf).  You can
create and edit these configuration files with the gnunet-setup tool.
You need to add the option "-d" to gnunet-setup in order to edit
gnunetd.conf (by default, gnunet-setup will edit gnunet.conf).  The
defaults that are created the first time you run gnunet-setup are
usually ok, you may want to adjust the limitations (space consumption,
bandwidth, etc.) though.  The configuration files are human-readable;
gnunetd is typically located at "etc\gnunetd.conf",
"~\.gnunet\gnunetd.conf" or "var/lib/GNUnet/gnunetd.conf".  The
per-user configuration file should be at "~/.gnunet/gnunet.conf".
"~" is your user's profile directory.

If you want to use a different configuration file, pass the name of
the configuration file as an argument with the option "-c" to any
GNUnet application.  Sending a SIGHUP to the gnunetd process will
cause gnunetd to re-read the configuration file.  Note that not all
options can be changed at runtime this way (e.g. to change any port
number, you must fully restart gnunetd).



Usage
=====

First, you must obtain an initial list of GNUnet hosts.  Knowing a
single peer is sufficient since after that GNUnet propagates
information about other peers.  Note that the default "gnunetd.conf"
contains URLs from where gnunetd downloads an initial hostlist
whenever it is started.  If you want to create an alternative URL for
others to use, the file can be generated on any machine running
gnunetd by periodically executing

$ cat $GNUNETD_HOME/data/hosts/* > the_file

If the solution with the URL is not feasible for your situation, you
can also add hosts manually.  The GNUnet webpage has a public
directory of hostkeys under http://gnunet.org/hosts/.  You
can of course use any other source for these files.  Copy the hostkeys
to "$GNUNETD_HOME/data/hosts/" (where $GNUNETD_HOME is the
directory specified in the /etc/gnunetd.conf configuration file).

Now start the local node using "gnunetd".  gnunetd should run 24/7 if
you want to maximize your anonymity.  You may start it as a service at
computer startup.  To insert files into GNUnet, use
the "gnunet-insert" command.

You can invoke the GUI with:

$ gnunet-gtk

If you want to use the command line, use

$ gnunet-search KEYWORD

This will display a list of results to the console. Then use

$ gnunet-download -o FILENAME GNUNET_URI

to retrieve a file.  The GNUNET_URI is printed by gnunet-search
together with a description.

For further documentation, see our webpage.


Hacking GNUnet
==============

Contributions are welcome, please submit bugs to
https://gnunet.org/mantis/.  Please make sure to run contrib/report.sh
and include the output with your bug reports.  More about how to
report bugs can be found in the GNUnet FAQ on the webpage.  Submit
patches via E-Mail to gnunet-developers@gnu.org.


Stay tuned
==========

* http://www.gnu.org/software/GNUnet/
* http://gnunet.org/
* https://gnunet.org/mantis/
* https://gnunet.org/drupal/
* http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnunet-developers
* http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnunet
* http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnunet