nespelem-3000/bridgectl

A script to hook with torctl, so that the latter can use bridges.

bridgectl

A script that facilitates the use of bridges with torctl.

Description

A script you can hook into torctl and force it to make use of provided bridges (only obfs4 and webtunnel for now). Currently torctl does not support the use of pluggable transports out-of-the-box. In order to use bridges you have to insert corresponding changes to the torrc, which can become a problem if the file gets modified by the system, or other application after your changes. Here is a script that tweaks the torctl file, making it possible to activate bridges during the torctl start process. The script does only mild changes to the torctl file, and leaves no traces as soon as it is uninstalled with ./handle uninstall.

Installation

1. Dounload the repository to your home directory.
2. Make the installation script which comes with the repo (handle.sh) executable by running:

chmod +x handle.sh

then (as root)

./handle.sh install

3. Run the handle.sh script as root.

After the above steps you should have torctl subdirectory in /usr/etc/ with two files bridgectl and bridges.txt.

Or alternatively, manually create a torctl folder in /usr/etc/ and copy the bridgectl and bridges.txt files there. 4. ./handle.sh add opens the bridges.txt file using Nano. Add your bridges lines there one per line and save.

Usage

You should have torctl and obfs4proxy installed to utilise obfs4 bridges, and you will also need the webtunnel plugin to use webtunnel bridges.

torctl requires some modifications to use bridges automatically, and so:

• Edit the torctl file manually (it is located at /usr/bin/torctl) or using the provided scripts (see below).
• Insert your bridges into the bridges.txt file (/usr/etc/torctl/bridges.txt) one per line, starting each line with obfs4.

using preinstalled scripts to modify the torctl file

(This will work as long as the present torctl file remains unmodified as the torctl_tweaker.sh script uses the strings order in the present torctl file. The same effect can be achieved in a much easier way by simply moving an already modified torctl to its folder, but this repo sticks to a fancier approach.)

• You should have torctl, obfs4proxy and/or webtunnel installed.
• Run sudo ./handle.sh install to add the bridge mode for torctl.
• Run sudo ./handle.sh uninstall to revert everything. Then just

torctl start

torctl stop

handle.sh flags:

install
uninstall
enable
disable
add    - opens file, where you can add/remove bridges

Modified torctl

torctl

Extra

obfs4

sudo pacman -S obfs4proxy

WebTunnel

Check if WebTunnel Pluggable Transport is available in Arch repositories. Alternatively:

sudo pacman -S go
git clone https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/webtunnel

cd webtunnel/main/client
go build

sudo cp client /usr/bin/webtunnel