# IrcMeetings ## Basic info - **Time:** Wednesday 20 March 2024 at 13:00 CEST (11:00 UTC) - **Place:** #openvpn-meeting channel on LiberaChat IRC network ## Topics ### Current topics - **Updated: openvpn 2.6.10 release** - _This release should go out today._ - _It contains a number of security fixes focused on Windows._ - **OpenVPN 2.5.10 release** - _According to our SupportedVersions guidelines we should do a release with the CVE fixes from 2.6._ - _But we don't promise Windows installers there. Given that these issues are all focused around Windows, we will do a best effort attempt to deliver it anyway._ - _This is something we'll pick up right after 2.6.10._ - **New: tunnelblick and sophos UTM** - _Need to investigate this issue. Possibly a client side fix._ - **Updated: website release process** - _This week a website release is planned that will enable a new way for updating Community Downloads page._ - _The new way has a much faster release method separate from the rest of the website's release schedule._ - _For today's release however the usual annoying method will be used to get it published on the main site._ - **Updated: forums topics** - _ecrist has gone ahead and launched the new forums and locked the old forums._ - _The idea is that people and conversations migrate over to the new forums._ - _There are still some issues with the new forums that should be resolved._ - _The current situation is that old forums is new topics locked, and new forums has issues._ - _Discussed and agreed to ask ecrist to either fix new forums quickly or unlock new topics on old forums until we fix things._ - _email delivery seems not to be working. Email confirmation on registration was suggested._ - _Spammers found the new forums - but an anti-spam module was installed so that should solve this in theory._ - _Access to admin interface seems broken. Have to find out where the problem is exactly and solve it._ - _We still need to work on having some other people with some admin or high mod access._ - _Mod guide, hard or soft delete (chuck board?), what to do with GDPR, etc. (write it down and actually make it available to mods, maybe a hidden topic)_ - _Access for mods to logs so one can see what others did_ - **Updated: Security mailing list procedure can stand improvement** - _dazo and novaflash will start discussing this internally in openvpn inc._ - _Goal of discussions is to work out a better internal procedure to connect security mailing list better with company product responsible people._ - **Updated: mattock topics** - _Talked about mattock's --dev null server testing implementation._ - _Agreed that testing TCP and UDP servers and matching clients is a good start._ - _Mattock will also check if t_client.sh could be used and/or adapted to do the client-side of this equation._ - **community funding** - _ordex has an initiative he wants to bring up regarding dev resources to be added to community._ - _This may tie into the donations topic._ - _In short ordex convinced OTF (Open Tech Fund) to provide a "test FOSS funding scheme" to OpenVPN._ - _This would for example allow to pay for allocated hours for mattock and cron2 to work on OpenVPN community tasks._ - _This is to be worked out more and in collaboration between OpenVPN Community, OpenVPN Inc., and OTF._ - **Updated: donation collection** - _ordex consulted an expert and it looks like doing a legal entity does not make sense when you're just starting out._ - _The tricky part here is that only if we get a lot of donations and a lot of money does it make sense to have that kind of overhead._ - _What we can do is start out with a company that collects the money and puts it to good community use. ordex volunteers to take this on._ - _We want the donations to be collected in one place, and expenses made from that one place, so we are accountable._ - _We need to figure out how to deal with that legally, and what payment methods to accept and how._ - _Probably credit card is a must. Maybe PayPal as well. Bitcoin seems to encounter some resistance in the discussions._ - _And a reminder; we definitely do not want the donation thing to be forced - have a mechanism to do it, but keep it out of the way._ - **inactive setting data counter in openvpn2 and openvpn3** - _It looks like openvpn2 and openvpn3 handle the counting of traffic for this differently._ - _After some discussion it was decided illia will submit some suggested fixes._ - **Status of SBOM** - _There was a discussion between MaxF and djpig and others._ - _For OpenVPN2 / OpenVPN-NL, there is not much overlap, as OpenVPN2 doesn't ship much in terms of libraries, but OpenVPN-NL does._ - _The interesting use-case for an SBOM is really the OpenVPN Windows GUI client._ - **status of trac/wiki** - _No progress since last meeting._ - _This will probably have to wait until "--dev null" is done_ - _Should have access controls so only approved members can edit._ - **Tunnelcrack progress** - _Current status: when mitigations start appearing we will mention them in meeting notes._ - **OpenVPN community meetup 2024** - _Naming: We decided to rename from 'Hackathon' to 'OpenVPN community meetup'. This has a more open spirit to it, as we want to encourage developers and those interested in contributing to feel welcome._ - _Where: Karlsruhe, Germany. It is a relatively central location in Europe and is fairly easily reachable by train. A meeting location is yet to be arranged._ - _When: At the moment tentatively set to 20-22 September 2024._ - _Who: We'll do an open invitation to openvpn-devel mailing list, but also CC: specifically past attendees and people of interest._ - _Shirts: There is plenty of time still to prepare a shirt design._ - **Static-key mini how-to is outdated.** - _This page is outdated badly: [Static-key Mini How-to](https://openvpn.net/community-resources/static-key-mini-howto/)_ - _The company will send this to tech writer to redo based on [Example Fingerprint doc on GitHub](https://github.com/OpenVPN/openvpn/blob/master/doc/man-sections/example-fingerprint.rst) and also retain a link to that GitHub doc._ - _Having a simple guide online will help adoption._ - **OpenVPN 2.6 performance results.** - _Tests should cover: GRE, IPSec, userland, DCO_ - _Linux, FreeBSD, Windows_ - _Requires time to be dedicated to doing this, when time available will do it._ - **What's going on with new taskbar icons?** - _Matt provided icons in [OpenVPN GUI Issue #595](https://github.com/OpenVPN/openvpn-gui/issues/595)_ - _Last update: will be picked up by Selva when he has time._ - **Software code signing topic** - _The company switched EV code signing to cloudHSM, this is the same cert type we use for driver signing, is also suitable for binary signing._ - _In future we could possibly switch community to that same key. Saves having to maintain 2 different keys._ - _Depends on how hard/easy it is to access the company key signing thing from community infrastructure._ - _Also no high priority at the moment, we have a working solution now._ - **Management interface documentation on main website will be updated with info from doc/management-notes.txt** - _Novaflash will pick this up at some point._ ### Mattock topics #### --dev null server testing Mattock has implemented the first version of the so-called "--dev null server testing" and integrated it with "make check". The features are: - Does what it says on the tin (more on that later) - Mostly operating system agnostic - Should be POSIX shell compliant - Uses the sample certificates and keys - Supports running directly as root and with sudo - Supports using different OpenVPN client versions - The "current" (just compiled) version - Any other OpenVPN versions (must be present on the filesystem) - Support testing for success as well as failure - Server configuration is currently static (i.e. no support for multiple server configurations yet) Here's how it works: 1. **make check** 1. **t_server_null.sh** 1. **t_server_null_server.sh** - Launches the compiled OpenVPN as root (if necessary with sudo) - OpenVPN server exits when all clients have been disconnected for ten seconds, based on its status file 1. **t_server_null_client.sh** - Launches each individual client test - Client kills itself after some delay using an "--up" script Current PoC code is available in mattock's "dev_null" branch. A good starting point is [t_server_null.sh](https://github.com/mattock/openvpn/blob/dev_null/tests/t_server_null.sh). What should be the next steps? - Basic approach ok? - Is starting with a single server configuration ok? - Which server configurations should we test against? - Which client configurations should we test (success or failure)? - Which operating systems do we want to support in this context? Linux and BSDs? Something more esoteric? - Which OpenVPN client versions should we run? #### Debian/Ubuntu snapshot publishing - In the last meeting we agreed to publish snapshot Debian/Ubuntu packages on *build.openvpn.net* - The tool to use to publish is [aptly](https://www.aptly.info/) - aptly does not have direct support for running commands (e.g. rsync, scp) after publishing packages, e.g. to a local filesystem on the buildmaster - _Option 1 (hacky):_ use _inotifywait_ with _rsync_ or _scp_ to copy the published repo to build.openvpn.net - _Option 2 (less hacky):_ use _NFS_ to publish "directly" to build.openvpn.net - Both options require a fair amount of tinkering