TSOCKS.CONF(5)TSOCKS.CONF(5)NAMEtsocks.conf - configuration file for tsocks(8)OVERVIEW
The configuration for tsocks can be anything from two lines to hundreds
of lines based on the needs at any particular site. The basic idea is
to define any networks the machine can access directly (i.e without the
use of a SOCKS server) and define one or many SOCKS servers to be used
to access other networks (including a 'default' server).
Local networks are declared using the 'local' keyword in the configura‐
tion file. When applications attempt to connect to machines in networks
marked as local tsocks will not attempt to use a SOCKS server to nego‐
tiate the connection.
Obviously if a connection is not to a locally accessible network it
will need to be proxied over a SOCKS server. However, many installa‐
tions have several different SOCKS servers to be used to access differ‐
ent internal (and external) networks. For this reason the configuration
file allows the definition of
Paths are declared as blocks in the configuration file. That is, they
begin with a 'path {' line in the configuration file and end with a '}'
line. Inside this block directives should be used to declare a SOCKS
server (as documented later in this manual page) and 'reaches' direc‐
tives should be used to declare networks and even destination ports in
those networks that this server should be used to reach. N.B Each path
MUST define a SOCKS server and contain one or more 'reaches' direc‐
tives.
SOCKS server declaration directives that are not contained within a
'path' block define the default SOCKS server. If tsocks needs to con‐
nect to a machine via a SOCKS server (i.e it isn't a network declared
as 'local') and no 'path' has declared it can reach that network via a
'reaches' directive this server is used to negotiate the connection.
CONFIGURATION SYNTAX
The basic structure of all lines in the configuration file is:
<directive> = <parameters>
The exception to this is 'path' blocks which look like:
path {
<directive> = <parameters>
}
Empty lines are ignored and all input on a line after a '#' character
is ignored.
DIRECTIVES
The following directives are used in the tsocks configuration file:
server The IP address of the SOCKS server (e.g "server = 10.1.4.253").
Only one server may be specified per path block, or one outside
a path block (to define the default server). Unless --disable-
hostnames was specified to configure at compile time the server
can be specified as a hostname (e.g "server = socks.nec.com")
server_port
The port on which the SOCKS server receives requests. Only one
server_port may be specified per path block, or one outside a
path (for the default server). This directive is not required if
the server is on the standard port (1080).
server_type
SOCKS version used by the server. Versions 4 and 5 are supported
(but both for only the connect operation). The default is 4.
Only one server_type may be specified per path block, or one
outside a path (for the default server).
You can use the inspectsocks utility to determine the type of
server, see the 'UTILITIES' section later in this manual page.
default_user
This specifies the default username to be used for username and
password authentication in SOCKS version 5. In order to deter‐
mine the username to use (if the socks server requires username
and password authentication) tsocks first looks for the environ‐
ment variable TSOCKS_USERNAME, then looks for this configuration
option, then tries to get the local username. This option is
not valid for SOCKS version 4 servers. Only one default_user may
be specified per path block, or one outside a path (for the
default server)
default_pass
This specified the default password to be used for username and
password authentication in SOCKS version 5. In order to deter‐
mine the password to use (if the socks server requires username
and password authentication) tsocks first looks for the environ‐
ment variable TSOCKS_PASSWORD, then looks for this configuration
option. This option is not valid for SOCKS version 4 servers.
Onle one default_pass may be specified per path block, or one
outside a path (for the default server)
local An IP/Subnet pair specifying a network which may be accessed
directly without proxying through a SOCKS server (e.g "local =
10.0.0.0/255.0.0.0"). Obviously all SOCKS server IP addresses
must be in networks specified as local, otherwise tsocks would
need a SOCKS server to reach SOCKS servers.
reaches
This directive is only valid inside a path block. Its parameter
is formed as IP[:startport[-endport]]/Subnet and it specifies a
network (and a range of ports on that network) that can be
accessed by the SOCKS server specified in this path block. For
example, in a path block "reaches = 150.0.0.0:80-1024/255.0.0.0"
indicates to tsocks that the SOCKS server specified in the cur‐
rent path block should be used to access any IPs in the range
150.0.0.0 to 150.255.255.255 when the connection request is for
ports 80-1024.
UTILITIES
tsocks comes with two utilities that can be useful in creating and ver‐
ifying the tsocks configuration file.
inspectsocks
inspectsocks can be used to determine the SOCKS version that a
server supports. Inspectsocks takes as its arguments the ip
address/hostname of the SOCKS server and optionally the port
number for socks (e.g 'inspectsocks socks.nec.com 1080'). It
then inspects that server to attempt to determine the version
that server supports.
validateconf
validateconf can be used to verify the configuration file. It
checks the format of the file and also the contents for errors.
Having read the file it dumps the configuration to the screen in
a formatted, readable manner. This can be extremely useful in
debugging problems.
validateconf can read a configuration file from a location other
than the location specified at compile time with the -f <file‐
name> command line option.
Normally validateconf simply dumps the configuration read to the
screen (in a nicely readable format), however it also has a use‐
ful 'test' mode. When passed a hostname/ip on the command line
like -t <hostname/ip>, validateconf determines which of the
SOCKS servers specified in the configuration file would be used
by tsocks to access the specified host.
SEE ALSOtsocks(8)AUTHOR
Shaun Clowes (delius@progsoc.uts.edu.au)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2000 Shaun Clowes
tsocks and its documentation may be freely copied under the terms and
conditions of version 2 of the GNU General Public License, as published
by the Free Software Foundation (Cambridge, Massachusetts, United
States of America).
This documentation is based on the documentation for logwrites, another
shared library interceptor. One line of code from it was used in tsocks
and a lot of the documentation :) logwrites is by adam@yggdrasil.com
(Adam J. Richter) and can be had from ftp.yggdrasil.com pub/dist/pkg
Shaun ClowesTSOCKS.CONF(5)
