[sword-devel] Access of SWORD repos through proxy?

[Greg Hellings]

If you have compiled SWORD with libcurl support for its transport, you can
just leverage built in SOCKS support in libcurl. I don't know how you'd do
this in a mobile app (you probably would need to expose it to the user in
your UI), but it should work transparently to the user once the environment
variables are set.

https://blog.emacsos.com/use-socks5-proxy-in-curl.html

--Greg

On Sun, Sep 1, 2024, 12:58 Tobias Klein <contact at tklein.info> wrote:

> Thank you, Jaak and David,
>
> I have passed on your feedback to the user.
>
> See
>
> https://github.com/ezra-bible-app/ezra-bible-app/discussions/1093#discussioncomment-10512596
>
> Best regards,
> Tobias
>
> On 8/31/24 5:29 PM, Jaak Ristioja wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm assuming your SOCKS5 traffic flows through a sufficiently
> > encrypted network tunnel.
> >
> > For Linux, there are programs which allow to run other programs and
> > direct their network traffic to some SOCKS5 proxy, e.g. proxychains-ng:
> >
> >   https://github.com/rofl0r/proxychains-ng/
> >
> > On Debian, Ubuntu and their derivates one can likely install it by using
> >
> >   sudo apt-get install proxychains4
> >
> > Proxychains-ng needs to be configured via /etc/proxychains.conf,
> > ~/.proxychains/proxychains.conf or proxychains.conf in the current
> > working directory unless the -f command line option is used to specify
> > a different location. After configuration, one should be able to run
> > programs via commands like
> >
> >   proxychains4 your_program --with=any arguments
> >
> > However, the problem with such tools is that they might not always
> > work as intended. For example when network traffic flows via paths
> > which tools like proxychains-ng do not know to intercept. Fpr example,
> > this is sometimes the case for DNS traffic (hostname to IP address
> > lookups) which is sometimes handled via external programs (e.g. DNS
> > cache service on local machine). So be sure to always thorougly test
> > (e.g. using network traffic analysis) whether this actually works
> > properly before actual use, and that nothing leaks. And test again
> > after ANY software updates or configuration changes. So be VERY VERY
> > CAREFUL when using things like proxychains-ng.
> >
> > A safer option might be to use something like Tails, a Debian Linux
> > based operating system which forces all programs to network over a
> > local SOCKS proxy providing Tor. It might be possible to configure
> > Tails to use some other SOCKS5 proxy as well.
> >
> > Regarding Tor, please note that in its simplest configuration Tor
> > attempts to connect to public Tor relays, making it possible for
> > eavesdroppers to detect Tor usage. A way around this (as suggested by
> > the Tor project) is to use (private) Tor bridges which use domain
> > fronting, traffic obfuscation and similar tricks. You might also find
> > some of these technologies useful for the tunneling the SOCKS5 traffic.
> >
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Jaak
> >
> >
> > PS: All security technologies and their implementations, including
> > proxychains-ng, Tails and Tor, have their weak points. So take care
> > when evaluating their fitness for your particular purpose.
> >
> >
> > On 31.08.24 14:20, Tobias Klein wrote:
> >> Hi Troy and all,
> >>
> >> One of the Ezra users has asked the following:
> >>
> >>
> >> The websites for updating modules and downloading Bibles are either
> >> inaccessible or subject to censorship for people living in countries
> >> that restrict internet access.
> >>
> >> Could the program be updated to support setting up a SOCKS5 or HTTP
> >> proxy, allowing users to access the internet through a proxy?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> How do you assess this request from a SWORD library perspective?
> >>
> >>
> >> Best regards,
> >> Tobias
> >>
> >>
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