[ANN] NamecoinControl - Manage namecoin services

[khal]

Here is the first release of NMControl 0.4 !

Description

nmcontrol is a python software that will provide services on top of namecoin like DNS, proxy, name (domain, alias, etc) registration and renewal.
It is composed of a daemon (nmcontrol) that communicates with namecoin and provide services, and a GUI (nmcontrol-gui) that manages the daemon.

It will allow you to :
- create domains, alias and auto renew them
- listen for dns requests
- listen for socks requests
- publish your services (in a namecoin record/namespace, services could announce themselves in the blockchain)
- etc

It is multi-threaded and designed with plugins, to enable each person to activate only what they need and what they want to share (for example, you will be able to share your DNS server with other people if you want).
Aim of this software is to allow people to easily build things/services on top of namecoin.

Current version supports :
- a flexible plugin system
- an rpc client/server to manage commands
- communication with namecoin

TODO :
- a GUI [edit: to manage domains, alias, dns server, etc, but not your coins. Coins can be managed with a bitcoin GUI using RPC]
- make required modifications for it to work on windows and mac
- advanced services like DNS and proxies
- automatic configuration of the OS
- provide binaries and install software

Links :
- sources
- archives
- README
- INSTALL
- TODO

Now that the base structure is done, I can focus on advanced services
Which one would you want first :
- windows support ?
- dns server
- name auto-renew ?
- gui ?
- other ?

[phelix]

sounds good!

Who needs a gui?

[khal]

sounds good!

Who needs a gui?

Creating alias, domains and subdomains would be easier :p

[khal]

NMControl 0.5 :

- now starts on windows
- better support of other os

To use it in Windows, you currently need to install python :
- 32 bit
- 64 bit

* Then, to launch the application use :

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cd nmcontrol
c:\Python\python.exe nmcontrol start

* Start namecoin.

* Open another terminal and :

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cd nmcontrol
c:\Python\python.exe nmcontrol data getValue id/khal

* If the daemon cannot contact namecoind :
- configure the path of your namecoin.conf file in 'conf/plugin-data.conf', example :

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update.namecoin=C:\Users\xxx\Application Data\Namecoin\namecoin.conf

- restart nmcontrol (stop first terminal and relaunch it)


Does it work for you ?

Next step : adding the DNS server.

[moa]

Wow, someone has been busy .... this looks neat khal.

A questions and a comment"

"Coins can be managed with a bitcoin GUI using RPC" ... is this already being done or will be done?

- automatic configuration of the OS ... my choice for number one on TODO

[khal]

Wow, someone has been busy .... this looks neat khal.

Thanks :p
The first release with DNS support will arrive soon (tonight ?), with a first support of .bit (spec v1) [based on pymds and the work done by sincrules1234].

"Coins can be managed with a bitcoin GUI using RPC" ... is this already being done or will be done?

It has always been possible.
For example, I successfully tested spesmilo yesterday (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Spesmilo).
Maybe Electrum could be adapted ?
Are there other bitcoin rpc GUI in python (or any other multi-platform language) ?

- automatic configuration of the OS ... my choice for number one on TODO

Indeed, it's a strategic option to reach all users.
A bit of work due to the diversity of network configurations/os :p
I need to get more infos about Zeroconf/Bonjour(mac)/Avahi(linux)/LLMNR(windows).

[khal]

Release of NMControl 0.6

Changelog :
- Added DNS client : lib to resolve non .bit domains
- Added DNS server : lib to reply to dns queries, connected to the data plugin to resolve .bit domains
- Added DNS Service : to configure,start and stop the DNS server
- Fix : don't try to stop an already stopped plugin
- Improved start/stop log messages

Todo :
- It has only a first support of .bit (spec v1) that needs to be improved/tested/commented
- No IPv6 yet.

To update from sources (git) :

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cd nmcontrol
git pull

To update from archive :
https://github.com/khalahan/nmcontrol/tags

The DNS server is auto-started. If you don't want it, edit the 'plugin-dns.conf' file and put :

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start=0

You can also configure host on which it will listen to share it on all your network (default is 127.0.0.1), port (53) and DNS servers that will be used to resolve non .bit domains and .bit domains configured with 'ns' records (defaults are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4).
Note : to listen on port 53, you will need high privileges under linux (at least), so you will need to launch it as root or with sudo.

Once nmcontrol is launched, change your DNS server to first use 127.0.0.1.

[khal]

Release of NMControl 0.7

Features :
- DNS server
- .bit support (spec v1)

Changelog :
* Improved thread support (CTRL+C should now work everytime)
- Program now stops immediately after a stop command or a CTRL+C
- No more infinite loop in main program :p

* Improved DNS server management
- DNS server can now restart properly
- Name resolution from .bit to IP has been moved to a dedicated plugin (pluginNamespaceDomain)

* Add filter to load less data from namecoin
- Only domain names from the 'd/' namespace are loaded if the dns server is started.
- Other namespaces will be loaded if a plugin require it.

* Add IPv6 support in DNS replies
- Replies from DNS requests now support IPv6 addresses

* Fixed some bugs & added debug infos

Download :
Source : https://github.com/khalahan/nmcontrol
Archives : https://github.com/khalahan/nmcontrol/tags

[khal]

Release of NMControl 0.8

New Features :
- Added "services" (see below)
- Improved .bit support

Changelog :
* Improved .bit support for "ns" records
* Split plugins between plugins and services
* New service "DNS"
* plugin NamespaceDomain has been modified to use the DNS service
Plugins can now depend on a service that will be autostarted if needed.
For each service used in a plugin, it can filter which requests to catch.
For example, the plugin NamespaceDomain will use the DNS service to catch only requests for .bit domains and leave other DNS requests to the DNS service itself.
This will allow other plugins to catch only what there are interested in.

Download :
Source : https://github.com/khalahan/nmcontrol
Archives : https://github.com/khalahan/nmcontrol/tags

[neofutur]

for the next features I vote for
* dns server
* name auto-renew

( no need for GUI, and no need for windows