News

GNUnet 0.22.0 released

We are pleased to announce the release of GNUnet 0.22.0.
GNUnet is an alternative network stack for building secure, decentralized and privacy-preserving distributed applications. Our goal is to replace the old insecure Internet protocol stack. Starting from an application for secure publication of files, it has grown to include all kinds of basic protocol components and applications towards the creation of a GNU internet.

This is a new major release. It breaks protocol compatibility with the 0.21.x versions. Please be aware that Git master is thus henceforth (and has been for a while) INCOMPATIBLE with the 0.21.x GNUnet network, and interactions between old and new peers will result in issues. In terms of usability, users should be aware that there are still a number of known open issues in particular with respect to ease of use, but also some critical privacy issues especially for mobile users. Also, the nascent network is tiny and thus unlikely to provide good anonymity or extensive amounts of interesting information. As a result, the 0.22.0 release is still only suitable for early adopters with some reasonable pain tolerance.

Download links

The GPG key used to sign is: 3D11063C10F98D14BD24D1470B0998EF86F59B6A

Note that due to mirror synchronization, not all links might be functional early after the release. For direct access try http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnunet/

Changes

A detailed list of changes can be found in the git log, the NEWS and the bug tracker. Noteworthy highlights are

  • transport:
    • A new experimental HTTP/3 communicator for peer-to-peer transport communicator.
    • New experimental NAT traversal functionality.
  • util:
  • hostlist: The bootstrap URL is changed to https://bootstrap.gnunet.org/v22 and https://bootstrap.gnunet.org/latest for the release and development version (git head), respectively.
  • gnunet-hello: A new CLI to import/export connectivity information (HELLOs) of peers manually.
  • namestore: Significant zone import performance improvements in preparation for DNS TLD mirror deployments (.se, .nu, etc).
  • messenger:
    • Implementation of discourse subscriptions for live data streaming in chat rooms.
    • New functionality in CLI for the Messenger service to stream data via standard input and output.
  • Build System:
    • Build variant to build a monolithic GNUnet library.
    • Cross compile the monolithic library for use on Android devices. An Android prototype can be found in this repository.

Known Issues

  • There are known major design issues in the CORE subsystems which will need to be addressed in the future to achieve acceptable usability, performance and security.
  • There are known moderate implementation limitations in CADET that negatively impact performance.
  • There are known moderate design issues in FS that also impact usability and performance.
  • There are minor implementation limitations in SET that create unnecessary attack surface for availability.
  • The RPS subsystem remains experimental.

In addition to this list, you may also want to consult our bug tracker at bugs.gnunet.org which lists about 190 more specific issues.

Thanks

This release was the work of many people. The following people contributed code and were thus easily identified: Christian Grothoff, t3sserakt, TheJackiMonster, Pedram Fardzadeh, Shichao, fence, dvn, nullptrderef and Martin Schanzenbach.

libgnunetchat 0.5.1 released

Additionally there's a minor release of libgnunetchat 0.5.1 which fixes multiple issues to improve overall reliability.

Download links

Noteworthy changes in 0.5.1

  • Fixes discourses stalling application on exit of its process.
  • Fixes comparison of egos for proper account management.
  • Implements automatic Github workflow for builds and testing.
  • Fixes destruction of contacts and lobbies.
  • Adjust internal message handling.
  • Adjust all test cases to run independent of each other.
  • Add test case for group opening and leaving.

A detailed list of changes can be found in the ChangeLog.

Messenger-GTK 0.10.1

Utilizing latest changes in GNUnet and libgnunetchat, there's a new release of the messenger application bringing live chats which allow streaming your own voice or video with other contacts. This release requires libgnunetchat 0.5.1.

Download links

Noteworthy changes in 0.10.1

  • Discourses have been added for live voice and video chats with other contacts.
  • Capturing a specific application or a whole monitor can be selected as video source in a live chat.

Keep in mind the application is still in development. So there may still be major bugs keeping you from getting a reliable connection. But if you encounter such issue, feel free to consult our bug tracker at bugs.gnunet.org.