-- Leo's gemini proxy
-- Connecting to rawtext.club:1965...
-- Connected
-- Sending request
-- Meta line: 20 text/gemini
=====================================================================
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___ _____/ (_)___ / /_(_) /__
/ _ \/ ___/ / / __ \/ __/ / //_/
/ __/ /__/ / / /_/ / /_/ / ,<
\___/\___/_/_/ .___/\__/_/_/|_|
/_/
=====================================================================
With the recent release of FreeBSD 13[1], I wanted to test it out on a spare RaspberryPi 3 that was part of my old Kubernetes cluster[2].
In particular, FreeBSD Jails[3] have always interested me, although I've never used them in practice. Over the years I've managed operating system virtualization[4] through Solaris Zones and Docker containers, and Jails seem like and good middle ground between the two - easier to manage than zones and closer to the OS than Docker.
I also want to run my own Gemini[5] capsule locally to use some of the features that my other hosted capsules don't have (like SCGI/CGI) and setting up a capsule in a Jail is a good way to learn both at the same time.
Installing FreeBSD on a RaspberryPi is relatively easy, downloading the FreeBSD 13 RPI image[6] and booting from the SD card to get started. Everything will come up automatically, and you can ssh in with the default user:pass of `freebsd:freebsd`.
A few post-install things I did to secure the host more,
Add another non-root user other than `freebsd`
Disable password logins and require ssh-keys
Setup doas[7] for new user
Remove the `freebsd` user with `doas rmuser freebsd`
Set strong root password
Since the RPI doesn't have a real-time clock, setting up NTP is crucial for accurate time, which if not set can cause all sorts of issues with TLS and other commands.
# Enabe ntpd host$ echo 'ntpd_enable="YES"' | doas tee -a /etc/rc.conf # Force sync time host$ doas ntpdate pool.ntp.org # Start ntpd host$ doas service ntpd onestart
The Jails guide[8] is straightforward, but contains two different methods of configuring jails. The built-in `jail` commands or `ezjail`. I ended up using ezjail[9] which seems more robust and featureful.
Following the instructions first add the second loopback interface,
host$ echo 'cloned_interfaces="lo1"' | doas tee -a /etc/rc.conf host$ doas service netif cloneup
Then install ezjail and a few other packages we'll need later on,
host$ doas pkg install ezjail ca_root_nss openssl host$ echo 'ezjail_enable="YES"' | doas tee -a /etc/rc.conf
Create a new jail named `thesours`, using the new second loopback and a new LAN IP on the interface `em0`,
host$ doas ezjail-admin create thesours 'lo1|127.0.1.1,em0|192.168.7.223'
This installs a FreeBSD 13 (default version is the host version) jail filesystem in `/usr/jails/thesours/` and will take a while to download and extract.
Once complete, list the new jail,
host$ doas ezjail-admin list
STA JID IP Hostname Root Directory
--- ---- --------------- ------------------------------ ------------------------
DR 1 127.0.1.1 thesours /usr/jails/thesours
1 ue0|192.168.7.223
Now that there's a running jail, connect to it's console to start setting it up.
doas ezjail-admin console thesours
Many of the directories are shared with the basejail and are immutable, but adding users and packages, configuring services, and `/etc` are all independent of the host OS.
Add a new non-root user using `adduser`, install `doas` and set up this user for root privileges. Enabling `sshd` also allows ssh sessions into the jail,
jail$ echo 'sshd_enable="YES"' | doas tee -a /etc/rc.conf
Now that the jail is setup, the next step is installing and configuring the Gemini server Molly Brown[10], which has a lot of features such as `~` support for user gemini folders and SCGI/CGI scripting.
Molly Brown requires `go`, which was built in the host and not the jail in order to keep jail packages to a minimum.
host$ doas pkg install go
Build Molly Brown,
host$ mkdir ~/go host$ export GOPATH=~/go host$ go get tildegit.org/solderpunk/molly-brown
Copy the resulting `~/go/bin/molly-brown` binary to the jail,
host$ doas cp molly-brown /usr/jails/thesours/usr/local/sbin/
Also create the TLS certs that molly brown will require later, and copy them to the jail,
host$ doas mkdir -p /usr/jails/thesours/etc/ssl/gemini/ host$ cd /usr/jails/thesours/etc/ssl/gemini/ host$ openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 1826 -nodes -subj '/CN=thesours.ecliptik.com'
Go back into the jail and setup a few configurations for Molly Brown with the following assumptions,
Config in `/etc/molly.conf`
Logs in `/var/log/molly`
TLS certs in `/usr/jails/thesours/etc/ssl/gemini`
Document root in `/var/gemini/`
Run as `daemon`
Create the required paths, create/copy files and set the proper permissions for `daemon`,
jail$ doas mkdir -p /var/log/molly /var/gemini/ jail$ doas chown -R daemon:daemon /var/log/molly /usr/jails/thesours/etc/ssl/gemini /var/gemini/
Create configuration in `/etc/molly.conf`,
## Molly basic settings Port = 1965 Hostname = "thesours.ecliptik.com" CertPath = "/etc/ssl/gemini/cert.pem" KeyPath = "/etc/ssl/gemini/key.pem" DocBase = "/var/gemini/" HomeDocBase = "users" GeminiExt = "gmi" DefaultLang = "en" AccessLog = "/var/log/molly/access.log" ErrorLog = "/var/log/molly/error.log"
Create `etc/rc.d/molly` to manage the service and have it start when the jail does. It will run as the `daemon` user to improve security.
#!/bin/sh
#
# $FreeBSD$
#
# PROVIDE: molly
# REQUIRE: networking
# KEYWORD: shutdown
. /etc/rc.subr
name="molly"
desc="Gemini Protocol daemon"
rcvar="molly_enable"
command="/usr/local/sbin/molly-brown"
command_args="-c /etc/molly.conf"
molly_brown_user="daemon"
pidfile="/var/run/${name}.pid"
required_files="/etc/molly.conf"
start_cmd="molly_start"
stop_cmd="molly_stop"
status_cmd="molly_status"
molly_start() {
/usr/sbin/daemon -P ${pidfile} -r -f -u $molly_brown_user $command
}
molly_stop() {
if [ -e "${pidfile}" ]; then
kill -s TERM `cat ${pidfile}`
else
echo "${name} is not running"
fi
}
molly_status() {
if [ -e "${pidfile}" ]; then
echo "${name} is running as pid `cat ${pidfile}`"
else
echo "${name} is not running"
fi
}
load_rc_config $name
run_rc_command "$1"
Enable the service,
jail$ echo 'molly_enable="YES"' | doas tee -a /etc/rc.conf
Add a default `/var/gemini/index.gmi` file with some basic gemtext and start the `molly` service,
jail$ doas service molly start
The gemini capsule gemini://thesours.ecliptik.com[11] is running Molly Brown in a FreeBSD jail.
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