code-backups/linux/i2p-browser-bundle

How to Prepare a Browser Bundle with I2P Torrenting and TOR for clearnet browsing

TOR is not encouraged to be used for torrenting. But I2P is designed to be torrented over and somewhat encouraged. It can also be used to browse special websites on I2P called "eepsites". The best way to enjoy I2P is to have a browser configured to use it. So I wanted to create a bundle that stays in a folder and can be used on any GNU/Linux distro.

I like the idea behind I2P but the default build requires having JDK installed on your machine. So I was interested in a solution that works without Java, so was looking into i2pd, the C++ implementation of I2P.

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WARNING: The instructions are not designed for privacy and security in mind and should not be considered as reliable. You are responsible for how you use it and what you access with it. I'm not responsible for any kind of damage.

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When finished, you will be able to:

• Create a semi portable bundle folder that you can move around
• Browse websites in I2P network with i2pd (no Java needed)
• Torrent over I2P network (no Java needed and no leaks)
• Browse clearnet websites through TOR
• Automatically shuts down everything when you close browser (like TOR browser does)

Step 1: Preparation

Make a directory somewhere. e.g. ~/i2p-bundle

mkdir i2p-bundle
cd i2p-bundle

Step 3: Prepare i2pd

i2pd, is the C++ implementation of I2P.

You can also use a system install of i2pd, but if your distro doesn't have the package for it, then build from repo:

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/PurpleI2P/i2pd.git
cd i2pd
make
# this will create a `i2pd` binary
cd ..

If you want to run i2pd now you can (optional):

ulimit -n 4096
i2pd/i2pd --datadir i2pd-data

The ulimit is needed on linux to increase open file limit. i2pd-data directory will be created and all the i2pd related data will be stored in there. Ctrl+C when done.

Step 4: Prepare XD

XD is a BitTorrent client specifically created to be used with I2P (and I2Pd). It has a minimal webui to add and manage your torrents kind of like I2P snark.

Right now AUR has a xd-torrent. You may not have XD in your distro's repo, so we'll build from source. You may need to install go and make for this.

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/majestrate/XD.git
cd XD
make
cd ..

To run you can do (optional):

mkdir XD-data
cd XD-data
../XD/XD torrents.ini; cd ..

XD related data should now be stored in XD-data. We cd into the directory because the default ini created will use current dir so we save ourselves from some edits. You should now be able to access the webui on http://127.0.0.1:1776/. You may have to whitelist blacklisted JS scripts from toolbar's LibreJS icon to use it. Ctrl+C when done.

Step 5: TOR

You can build tor from source and put the files on a tor directory. Here, we're using the repo version installed from the distro package repo. Copy the tor-data/torrc file in this directory to a new directory called tor-data. The file is just a standard torrc file with:

• User tor commented, so that it can be run as normal user
• DataDirectory set to our tor-data
• SOCKSPort to 9450 to not conflict with system service

To run (optional):

tor -f tor-data/torrc

Step 6: Prepare the browser

I'm using IceCat here, but you can use any Firefox based browser here, even system installed ones. But whetever you use, be careful of the privacy implications.

Go to IceCat homepage and click "Latest release". Then download either icecat-60.7.0.en-US.gnulinux-x86_64.tar.bz2 or icecat-60.7.0.en-US.gnulinux-i686.tar.bz2 depending on your OS architecture (run uname -m to find out).

tar -xf /path/to/icecat-*.en-US.gnulinux-*.tar.bz2 -C ~/i2p-bundle

To run it:

mkdir -p icecat-data
icecat/icecat --no-remote --profile "$PWD/icecat-data"

--no-remote is to start a new separate instance and not to use any Firefox or other browser already running on the system.

Run it and disable Onion Browser Button addon (we'll use FoxyProxy instead). Now install FoxyProxy Standard addon. Click the FoxyProxy icon, then click "Options", then click "Import settings". Under "Import Settings from FoxyProxy 6.0+" click "Import settings" and open the FoxyProxy Standard presets.json file. Click OK.

Get the run-browser.sh file from this directory and put it inside the ~/i2p-bundle directory. Now, ideally, you should be able to move around this directory and use it on any Linux system. To run the browser with all the necessary I2Pd, XD and TOR, just run the ./run-browser.sh