=====================================================================
___ __ _ __
___ _____/ (_)___ / /_(_) /__
/ _ \/ ___/ / / __ \/ __/ / //_/
/ __/ /__/ / / /_/ / /_/ / ,<
\___/\___/_/_/ .___/\__/_/_/|_|
/_/
=====================================================================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].
=> 1: https://www.freebsd.org/releases/13.0R/announce/ | 2: https://www.ecliptik.com/Raspberry-Pi-Kubernetes-Cluster/
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.
=> 3: https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/jails/ | 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS-level_virtualization
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.
=> 5: https://gemini.circumlunar.space
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.
=> 6: https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/arm64/aarch64/ISO-IMAGES/13.0/
A few post-install things I did to secure the host more,
freebsd
freebsd user with doas rmuser freebsd
=> 7: https://man.openbsd.org/doas
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.
=> 8: https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/jails/ | 9: https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/jails/#jails-ezjail
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|192.168.7.223Now 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.
=> 10: https://tildegit.org/solderpunk/molly-brown
Building Molly Brown
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,
/etc/molly.conf
/var/log/molly
/usr/jails/thesours/etc/ssl/gemini
/var/gemini/
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/
Molly Brown Configuration
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"
Creating a Molly Brown Service
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.
=> 11: gemini://thesours.ecliptik.com
=> freebsd | hack | gemini | 100daystooffload
=> Home This content has been proxied by September (ba2dc).Proxy Information
text/gemini; lang=en