Small, local NNTP server using P2P/DHT for peering.

The aim of Tribes is to have a small, zero-config (or little-config) personal NNTP server. This is for personal use, like running on your laptop, your PC at home, and so on. This is why I call it "personal server".

Each personal server will use DHT Pastry to exchange messages and newsgroups. Also it supports NAT-UpNP.

Also, Tribes allows each node to create newsgroups. This means editing a text file is enough.

To avoid spam and crimes, Tribes servers are grouped into "tribes" . A "Tribe" is nothing different than a passphrase, which needs to be the same for all the member of the tribe. From now on, we name this passphrase as "TribeID"

The minimal lenght of the passphrase is 32 chars.

With no proper key, a peer cannot join a tribe. Groups and folders are exchanged after encryption with PGP, using the TribeID as a key.

All files are stored into ${HOME}/News. This is the initial setup. The final is to have a single zip folder to be distributed.

Like any DHT network, it needs an "initial" (AKA "bootstrap") node. Your node will connect to the initial node, and it will join the DHT network. It will get the DHT cache, and now you are in.

NOTES FOR THE BETA RELEASE you will receive any message posted after you joined the cluster. The "full alignment" will come later.

You need to set your TribeID in the config file, and also the TCP port you want to use.

If your router is not supporting NAT-UpNP, you''ll need to configure it accordingly.

Download the executable (or build it) and start it once. On linux just type ""./tribes" , on Windows just open your terminal and do the same.

Then shut it down, with CONTROL-C.

This will create the folders and a default config file.

You can find the configuration file in ${HOME}/News/config.toml

Just open it with your editor. You will see:

TLSPORT = "21000"
MyTribeID = "AdzfNdsMAajMMuPpVsNXvWWxIDohwppz"
MyBootStrapHost = "127.0.0.1"
MyBootStrapPort = "21000"

TLSPORT is the port you want to use in your PC. This is the port which will be advertised to the home router (if one) via NAT-UpNP. If your router is not NAT-UpNP ready, you need to forward this port manually.

MyTribeID You need this to enter the tribe. Either you get this from other members of an existing tribe, or you want to create your own tribe. If you want to create your own tribe, just invent a string. It has to be longer than 32 chars.

MyPublicHost Currently not used, but planned for a future release.You can leave it like it is.

MyBootStrapHost The IP of the host you want to use as a bootstrap. beta0.1/2 only supports IP addresses. I will add DNS resolution soon. If you want to be the bootstrap node, just set as "127.0.0.1"

MyBootStrapPort the port your bootstrap server is listening at.

Once you configured , just save the file and restart tribes using the command line.

Now you can open the Newsreader you like , and set a newsserver as "127.0.0.1:11119" No autentication is needed.

In case you want to configure your own newsgroups, just open the file ${HOME}/News/groups/ng.local and write a list of them like:

it.stinks
it.stinks.more
it.stinks.even.more

of yourse, you can put there the names you like. This example setup will create 3 groups, named like "it.stinks", "it.stinks.more", "it.stinks.even.more".

• Q. Do I need to connect to some ISP's news server?
• A. No. The concept is to have a NNTP service with NO big servers involved. Just P2P.

• Q. May I use it as local NNTP server on my huge machine?
• A. Well, it only listens on localhost. Maybe for local users? Dunno. Up to you.

• Q. Should I expose port 11119 to the internet?
• A. No.I put little care about security when writing the beloved NNTP interface.

• Q. But I want to use Tribes from the internet. Is there a way you suggest? haproxy, nginx?
• A. If you like, don't just redirect tcp ports. Use a real Layer7 proxy, like leafnode. Still I think you should not.

• Q. C'mon! What can happen if I expose the NNTP interface?
• A. Spammers will flood you (and your "tribe"'s members) with bullshit: there is no autentication.

• Q. Is it a darknet?
• A. No. Encryption has the only goal of keeping people out of a tribe until they can't get the TribeID. As far I see, pastry implementation is in clear text.

• Q. Does it grants my privacy?
• A. USENET is a public space. When you are in public, people can see you.

• Q. When you will finish it?
• A. Dunno. I am still having fun with coding. So I will change the storage later, with a more efficient one. I will add a configuration web interface. There are many ways to do that. It's still work in progress.

• Q. So what's the plan?
• A. Now we have beta0.2 . I will continue with beta0.X until I am sure "it just works" and the network protocol is consistent. Then I will do Release 1.0. After of this, I will add everything I like.

• Q. May I help? How?
• A. You could do testing, joining a test cluster. In such a case , you will be requested to join the Tribe , join discussions, and so on. In case you see a bug, just collect the logs and send them to me. Logs are in ${HOME}\News\logs\tribes.2015-Jun-10.1700.log

• Q. How it works this "sent them to me"?
• A. Just write gitadmin AT wolfstep.cc and ask to help. Then we can use the GitBucket to open issues.

• Q. Could I contribute to the code, also?
• A. Being honest, no. This is something I do for fun, to experiment with golang, to implement stuffs. Don't take me wrong if I say no: is not about you. It is my fun. :)

• Q. Do you think it will be a success?
• A. Indeed, it is: I had lot of fun writing it. This was the goal since the beginning: I'm not a PRO developer, this is just my hobby.

• Q. Imagine I create a "tribe" in my local net, and then I expose the NNTP port. Is this a replicated cluster of NNTP servers?
• A. Tribes was not designed for production use. Btw, still is a beta. Functionally speaking: yes, you can get a replicated cluster of NNTP servers like this.

• Q. I want to join the cluster, I have credentials, but the Bootstrap node is too slow. What can I do?
• A. You can use any node to bootstrap. Until the node is part of a tribe, and you can reach it, it is a "bootstrap node". This is by design of DHT. There is no "designated" first node.

• Q. I want to start a tribe.
• A. Just decide your passphrase, then give to your friends the public IP, the port, and the TribeID.

• Q. You did not implemented all of NNTP protocol.Why?
• A. NNTP protocol was designed by a barrel of drunken monkeys (Or something like that). Each newsreader is behaving differently, and there is no server on the planet which is 100% compliant with the standard. During the testing phase with MacSoup, Thunderbird, Pan , Slrn, leafnode, I decided to implement a reasonable subset of it. Like everyone is doing.