gnunet-insert - a command line interface for inserting new content into GNUnet

gnunet-insert [OPTIONS] FILENAME*

In order to share files with other GNUnet users, the files must first be made available to GNUnet. GNUnet does not automatically share all files from a certain directory. In fact, even files that are downloaded are not automatically shared.

In order to start sharing files, the files must be added either using gnunet-insert or gnunet-gtk. The command line tool gnunet-insert is more useful if many files are supposed to be added. gnunet-insert can automatically insert batches of files, recursively insert directories, create directories that can be browsed within GNUnet and publish file lists in a namespace.

gnunet-insert can automatically extract keywords from the files that are shared. Users that want to download files from GNUnet use keywords to search for the appropriate content. You can disable keyword extraction with the -n option. You can manually add keywords using the -k and -K options.

In addition to searching for files by keyword, GNUnet allows organizing files into directories. With directories, the user only needs to find the directory in order to be able to download any of the files listed in the directory. Directories can contain pointers to other directories.

With gnunet-insert, it is easy to create new directories simultaneously when adding the files. Simply add the option -R to recursively insert an entire directory and create the corresponding directory structure in GNUnet.

Since keywords can be spammed (any user can add any content under any keyword), GNUnet supports namespaces. A namespace is a subset of the searchspace into which only the holder of a certain pseudonym can add content. Any GNUnet user can create any number of pseudonyms using gnunet-pseudonym-create. Pseudonyms are stored in the users GNUnet directory and can be additionally protected with a password. While pseudonyms are locally identified with an arbitrary string that the user selects when the pseudonym is created, the namespace is globally known only under the hash of the public key of the pseudonym. Since only the owner of the pseudonym can add content to the namespace, it is impossible for other users to pollute the namespace. gnunet-insert automatically inserts the top-directory (or the only file if only one file is specified) into the namespace if a pseudonym is specified. If no specific namespace-identifier is specified (option -t), gnunet-insert selects a random identifier.

It is possible to update content in GNUnet if that content was placed and obtained from a particular namespace. Updates are only possible for content in namespaces since this is the only way to assure that a malicious party can not supply counterfeited updates. GNUnet supports two types of updateable content, sporadically updated content and periodically updated content. If content is periodically updated (every day, every week, etc.), the period must be passed to gnunet-insert with the -i option. The -S option is used to indicate sporadically updated content. You can use the -N option to specify the future identifier of the update (only for the first update of periodically updated content). Without -N, gnunet-insert will select (and output) a random identifier that must be used for the next update. You can use the option -u to specify the identifier of the previous version of the content that you want to update.

You can use automatic meta-data extraction (based on libextractor) or the command-line option -m to specify meta-data. For the -m option you need to use the form keyword-type:value. For example, use "-m os:Linux" to specify that the operating system is Linux. Common meta-data types are "author", "title" , "mimetype", "filename", "language", "subject" and "keywords". A full list can be obtained from the extract tool using the option --list. The meta-data is used to help users in searching for files on the network. The keywords are case-sensitive.

GNUnet supports two styles of publishing files on the network. Inserting a file means that a copy of the file is made in the local (!) database of the node. Indexing a file means that an index is added to the local (!) database with symbolic links to the file itself. The links will use the SHA-512 hash of the entire file as the filename. Note that for indexed files a different quota is applied than for the normal GNUnet FS database. Indexing is generally significantly more efficient and the default choice. In either case, the file is slowly (depending on how often it is requested and on how much bandwidth is available) dispersed into the network. If you insert or index a file and then leave the network, it will almost always NOT be available anymore.

-c FILENAME, --config=FILENAME Use alternate config file (if this option is not specified, the default is ~/.gnunet/gnunet.conf).

-C, --copy Even if using links to the .gnunet directory is generally permitted, make a copy of the file (disables symlinking even if it is possible). When indexing a file, gnunet-insert will create a copy of the file in the "share" directory of gnunetd. If that directory happens to be on the local machine (i.e. gnunetd runs on localhost) then gnunet-insert can instead just use a link. This will not work over the network, if the file-permissions do not allow gnunetd to read the file or if the file maybe changed afterwards. Hence the default is to be inefficient and to make a copy. With this option you can force gnunet-insert to not make a link. gnunet-insert will fall back to creating a copy.

-D, --direct

For a recursive upload, also create direct indexing information that will refer to files inside of directories immediately. Without -D, contents of directories can only be found via the directory itself.

-e, --extract

Print the list of keywords that will be extracted. Do not perform any indexing or insertion.

-h, --help

Print a brief help page with all the options.

-i SECONDS, --interval=SECONDS

Specifies the update frequency of the content in seconds. This option is only valid together with the -s option. If no current and next ID are specified, the system picks some random start values for the sequence.

Most recent update can be found by gnunet-gtk automatically. gnunet-search will print all edition ids between the insertion time and the current time. A new search can be then performed with one of the printed keys. Also, using gnunet-insert for updating content is cumbersome, in the future gnunet-gtk will provide a more interactive way to manage content updates.

-k KEYWORD, --key=KEYWORD

additional key to index the content with (to add multiple keys, specify multiple times). Each additional key is case-sensitive. Can be specified multiple times. The keyword is only applied to the top-level files or directories.

-K KEYWORD, --global-key=KEYWORD

additional key to index the content with. Keywords specified with -K are applied to files and directories encountered on the command-line or in the recursive scan. This is the only difference to the -k option. This option can be specified multiple times.

-L LOGLEVEL, --loglevel=LOGLEVEL

Change the loglevel. Possible values for LOGLEVEL are NOTHING, FATAL, ERROR, FAILURE, WARNING, MESSAGE, INFO, DEBUG, CRON and EVERYTHING.

-m TYPE:VALUE, --meta=TYPE:VALUE

For the main file (or directory), set the meta-data of the given TYPE to the given VALUE.

-n, --noindex

Executive summary: You probably don't need it.

Do not index, full insertion. Note that directories, RBlocks, SBlocks and IBlocks are always inserted (even without this option). With this option, every block of the actual files is stored in encrypted form in the block database of the local peer. While this adds security if the local node is compromised (the adversary snags your machine), it is significantly less efficient compared to on-demand encryption and is definitely not recommended for large files.

-N ID, --next=ID

Specifies the next ID of a future version of the SBlock. This option is only valid together with the -s option and together with either the option -b or only a single filename on the command-line. This option can be used to specify what the identifier of an updated version will look like. Without the -i option, a one-shot update SBlock is used (a-periodic). With the -i option, the difference between the current ID (this) and the next ID is used to compute all future IDs. Note that specifying -i and -N without -t hardly ever makes sense.

The ID can be given in HEX notation, otherwise the HEX code is derived by hashing the given ID string.

-p PRIORITY, --prio=PRIORITY

Executive summary: You probably don't need it.

Set the priority of the inserted content (default: 65535). If the local database is full, GNUnet will discard the content with the lowest ranking. Note that ranks change over time depending on popularity. The default should be high enough to preserve the locally inserted content in favor of content that migrates from other peers.

-P NAME, --pseudonym=NAME

For the top-level directory or file, create an SBlock that places the file into the namespace specified by the pseudonym NAME.

-R, --recursive

Process directories recursively. Without this option, directories are ignored. With this option, gnunet-insert will process files in directories recursively.

-S, --sporadic

This option specifies that the file will be updated sporadically but not periodically. It is only valid in conjunction with the -s option. It is implied if -N is specified but not -i. It cannot be used together with the -i option. Use -S if you intend to publish an update at an unknown point in the future and if you want gnunet-insert to pick a random identifier for that future content.

If you use -s but not -S, -N or -i, the content will not be updateable.

-t ID, --this=ID

Specifies the ID of the SBlock. This option is only valid together with the -s option and together with either the option -b or only a single filename on the command-line.

The ID can be given in HEX notation, otherwise the HEX code is derived by hashing the given ID string which may be a natural language keyword.

-T TIME, --time=TIME

Specifies the SBlock creation time. The required format depends on your locale.

for TIME. This option can be used to publish past and future periodical SBlocks. The option works best when used together with -e. Default time is the current time.

-v, --version

Print the version number.

-V, --verbose

Be verbose. Using this option causes gnunet-insert to print progress information and at the end the file identification that can be used to download the file from GNUnet.

Basic examples

Index a file COPYING:

# gnunet-insert COPYING

Insert a file COPYING:

# gnunet-insert -n COPYING

Index a file COPYING with the keywords gpl and test:

# gnunet-insert -k gpl -k test COPYING

Index a file COPYING with description "GNU License", mime-type "text/plain" and keywords gpl and test:

# gnunet-insert -m "description:GNU License" -k gpl -k test -m "mimetype:text/plain" COPYING

Using directories

Index the files COPYING and AUTHORS with keyword test and build a directory containing the two files. Make the directory itself available under keyword gnu:

# gnunet-insert -K test -k gnu -b COPYING AUTHORS

Neatly publish an image gallery in kittendir/ and its subdirs with keyword kittens for the directory but no keywords for the individual files or subdirs (-Rn). Force description for all files:

# gnunet-insert -Rn -m "description:Kitten collection" -k kittens kittendir

Secure publishing with namespaces

Insert file COPYING with pseudonym RIAA (-s) and password MPAA (-P) with identifier gpl (-t) and no updates:

# gnunet-insert -s RIAA -P MPAA -t gpl COPYING

Recursively (-R) index /home/ogg and build a matching directory structure. Insert the top-level directory into the namespace under the pseudonym RIAA (-s) with password MPAA (-P) under identifier MUSIC (-t) and promise to provide an update with identifier VIDEOS (-N) at an arbitrary point in the future (-S is implied by lack of -i and presence of -N):

# gnunet-insert -R -s RIAA -P MPAA -t MUSIC -N VIDEOS /home/ogg

Recursively (-R) insert (-n) /var/lib/mysql and build a matching directory structure, but disable the use of libextractor to extract keywords (-n). Print the file identifiers (-V) that can be used to retrieve the files. This will store a copy of the MySQL database in GNUnet but without adding any keywords to search for it. Thus only people that have been told the secret file identifiers printed with the -V option can retrieve the (secret?) files:

# gnunet-insert -RnV /var/lib/mysql

Create a periodical SBlock with a sporadic update interval and announce that the next update will be called 'next':

# gnunet-insert -P MPAA -N next -S noise.mp3

Update the periodical SBlock using settings from a previous time:

# gnunet-insert -P MPAA -t next -N nextnext noise_updated.mp3

~/.gnunet/gnunet.conf

GNUnet configuration file

Report bugs by using mantis <https://gnunet.org/mantis/> or by sending electronic mail to <gnunet-developers@gnu.org>

gnunet-gtk(1), gnunet-pseudonym(1), gnunet-search(1), gnunet-download(1), gnunet.conf(5), gnunetd(1), extract(1)