tahoe-lafs/docs/magic-folder-howto.rst

Magic Folder Set-up Howto

1. This document
2. Preparation
3. Setting up a local test grid
4. Setting up Magic Folder
5. Testing

This document

This is preliminary documentation of how to set up the Magic Folder pre-release using a test grid on a single Linux or Windows machine, with two clients and one server. It is aimed at a fairly technical audience.

For an introduction to Magic Folder and how to configure it more generally, see docs/frontends/magic-folder.rst.

It it possible to adapt these instructions to run the nodes on different machines, to synchronize between three or more clients, to mix Windows and Linux clients, and to use multiple servers (if the Tahoe-LAFS encoding parameters are changed).

Preparation

Linux

Install git from your distribution's package manager. Then run these commands:

git clone -b 2438.magic-folder-stable.5 https://github.com/tahoe-lafs/tahoe-lafs.git
cd tahoe-lafs
python setup.py test

The test suite usually takes about 15 minutes to run. Note that it is normal for some tests to be skipped. In the current branch, the Magic Folder tests produce considerable debugging output.

If you see an error like fatal error: Python.h: No such file or directory while compiling the dependencies, you need the Python development headers. If you are on a Debian or Ubuntu system, you can install them with sudo apt-get install python-dev. On RedHat/Fedora, install python-devel.

Windows

Windows 7 or above is required.

For 64-bit Windows:

• Install Python 2.7 from https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7/python-2.7.amd64.msi
• Install pywin32 from https://tahoe-lafs.org/source/tahoe-lafs/deps/windows/pywin32-219.win-amd64-py2.7.exe
• Install git from https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases/download/v2.6.2.windows.1/Git-2.6.2-64-bit.exe

For 32-bit Windows:

• Install Python 2.7 from https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7/python-2.7.msi
• Install pywin32 from https://tahoe-lafs.org/source/tahoe-lafs/deps/windows/pywin32-219.win32-py2.7.exe
• Install git from https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases/download/v2.6.2.windows.1/Git-2.6.2-32-bit.exe

Then (for any version) run these commands in a Command Prompt:

git clone -b 2438.magic-folder-stable.5 https://github.com/tahoe-lafs/tahoe-lafs.git
cd tahoe-lafs
python setup.py build

Open a new Command Prompt with the same current directory, then run:

bin\tahoe --version-and-path

It is normal for this command to print warnings and debugging output on some systems. python setup.py test can also be run, but there are some known sources of nondeterministic errors in tests on Windows that are unrelated to Magic Folder.

Setting up a local test grid

Linux

Run these commands:

mkdir ../grid
bin/tahoe create-introducer ../grid/introducer
bin/tahoe start ../grid/introducer
export FURL=`cat ../grid/introducer/private/introducer.furl`
bin/tahoe create-node --introducer="$FURL" ../grid/server
bin/tahoe create-client --introducer="$FURL" ../grid/alice
bin/tahoe create-client --introducer="$FURL" ../grid/bob

Windows

Run:

mkdir ..\grid
bin\tahoe create-introducer ..\grid\introducer
bin\tahoe start ..\grid\introducer

Leave the introducer running in that Command Prompt, and in a separate Command Prompt (with the same current directory), run:

set /p FURL=<..\grid\introducer\private\introducer.furl
bin\tahoe create-node --introducer=%FURL% ..\grid\server
bin\tahoe create-client --introducer=%FURL% ..\grid\alice
bin\tahoe create-client --introducer=%FURL% ..\grid\bob

Both Linux and Windows

(Replace / with \ for Windows paths.)

Edit ../grid/alice/tahoe.cfg, and make the following changes to the [node] and [client] sections:

[node]
nickname = alice
web.port = tcp:3457:interface=127.0.0.1

[client]
shares.needed = 1
shares.happy = 1
shares.total = 1

Edit ../grid/bob/tahoe.cfg, and make the following change to the [node] section, and the same change as above to the [client] section:

[node]
nickname = bob
web.port = tcp:3458:interface=127.0.0.1

Note that when running nodes on a single machine, unique port numbers must be used for each node (and they must not clash with ports used by other server software). Here we have used the default of 3456 for the server, 3457 for alice, and 3458 for bob.

Now start all of the nodes (the introducer should still be running from above):

bin/tahoe start ../grid/server
bin/tahoe start ../grid/alice
bin/tahoe start ../grid/bob

On Windows, a separate Command Prompt is needed to run each node.

Open a web browser on http://127.0.0.1:3457/ and verify that alice is connected to the introducer and one storage server. Then do the same for http://127.0.0.1:3568/ to verify that bob is connected. Leave all of the nodes running for the next stage.

Setting up Magic Folder

Linux

Run:

mkdir -p ../local/alice ../local/bob
bin/tahoe -d ../grid/alice magic-folder create magic: alice ../local/alice
bin/tahoe -d ../grid/alice magic-folder invite magic: bob >invitecode
export INVITECODE=`cat invitecode`
bin/tahoe -d ../grid/bob magic-folder join "$INVITECODE" ../local/bob

bin/tahoe restart ../grid/alice
bin/tahoe restart ../grid/bob

Windows

Run:

mkdir ..\local\alice ..\local\bob
bin\tahoe -d ..\grid\alice magic-folder create magic: alice ..\local\alice
bin\tahoe -d ..\grid\alice magic-folder invite magic: bob >invitecode
set /p INVITECODE=<invitecode
bin\tahoe -d ..\grid\bob magic-folder join %INVITECODE% ..\local\bob

Then close the Command Prompt windows that are running the alice and bob nodes, and open two new ones in which to run:

bin\tahoe start ..\grid\alice
bin\tahoe start ..\grid\bob

Testing

You can now experiment with creating files and directories in ../local/alice and /local/bob; any changes should be propagated to the other directory.

Note that when a file is deleted, the corresponding file in the other directory will be renamed to a filename ending in .backup. Deleting a directory will have no effect.

For other known issues and limitations, see https://github.com/tahoe-lafs/tahoe-lafs/blob/2438.magic-folder-stable.5/docs/frontends/magic-folder.rst#known-issues-and-limitations

As mentioned earlier, it is also possible to run the nodes on different machines, to synchronize between three or more clients, to mix Windows and Linux clients, and to use multiple servers (if the Tahoe-LAFS encoding parameters are changed).