gotalk

Simple multi-user ad-hoc communication program.

The communication is secured using tls over tcp. The program can be started in server mode or in client mode (see below). In client mode the program starts a graphical user interface to accomodate both conversations and status messages. The client GUI is built using fyne (https://fyne.io/), a portable graphical toolkit.

Build the software:

• install golang
• clone / download this repo
• change directory to root of this repo clone
• install fyne (see also https://developer.fyne.io/index.html)
• install fyne system dependencies, e.g.:
  • Linux: on a standard Ubuntu 20.04 distro I had to install: sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dev libxcursor-dev libxrandr-dev libxinerama1 libxinerama-dev libxi-dev libxxf86vm-dev
  • windows: for 64 bit gcc (if not already installed) get the MinGW-w64 installer on the website below and chose x86_64 architecture during install:
• install command line parser (go get github.com/alecthomas/kong)
• install localization package: (go get github.com/moemoe89/go-localization)
• run openssl ecparam -genkey -name prime256v1 -out server.key
• run openssl req -new -x509 -key server.key -out root_cert.pem -days 3650
  • move root_cert.pem file to an appropriate location or leave it in clone root (default)
  • move server.key file to an appropriate location or leave it in clone root (default)
  • make sure the clients receive the root certificate (public key) file
• install makeif not already present on your system
• run make all to build both client and server binaries (target: ./bin directory)
• run make client to build the client binary (target: ./bin directory)
• run make server to build the server binary (target: ./bin directory)

Run the server app:

gotalk-server [options] 
Usage: gotalk-server

Flags:
  -h, --help                           Show context-sensitive help.
  -p, --port="8089"                    Port number.
  -l, --locale=STRING                  Language setting to be used.
  -c, --root-cert="./root_cert.pem"    Path to root certificate for TLS.
  -k, --server-key="./server.key"      Path to server key for TLS.
  -e, --environment="development"      Application environment (development|production).
  -v, --version                        Show Version.

Examples:

./gotalk-server 
./gotalk-server -p 8089 --locale=de
./gotalk-server -l de
./gotalk-server --port=8089

Server termination by SIGHUP (for the time being)

Run the client app:

gotalk-client [options]

Usage: gotalk-client

Flags:
  -h, --help                           Show context-sensitive help.
  -a, --address="localhost"            IP address or domain name.
  -p, --port="8089"                    Port number.
  -l, --locale=STRING                  Language setting to be used.
  -c, --root-cert="./root_cert.pem"    Path to root certificate for TLS.
  -n, --nick="J_Doe"                   Nickname to be used.
  -e, --environment="development"      Application environment (development|production).
  -v, --version                        Show Version.

Examples:

./gotalk-client
./gotalk-client --nick MyNick 
./gotalk-client -n MyNick --address=127.0.0.1
./gotalk-client --nick=MyNick -a 127.0.0.1 --port 8089 --locale de

Client commands:

• /exit,/quit,/q - close connection and exit
• /list - displays active users in room
• /nick <nickname> - change nickname
• /help,/? - display help text

Color controls:

General:

• a color control followed by space will change the color for the rest of the line
• a color control attached to a word will change the color for the word

Usage Example: $red this is my $ytext

Color Controls (long form and short form for each control) $red $r $cyan $c $yellow $y $green $g $purple $p $white $w $black $b

In all cases <address> defaults to localhost, <port> defaults to 8089, and <nickname> defaults to J_Doe, and <locale> defaults to the actual system setting. If no translation is available it falls back to english.

Localization: The language.json file provides for language translations. The structure is pretty self explanatory. To add a new language, just duplicate the string pack for one language and translate the respective message string (right hand values, the left hand values are keys).

Deployment Options: Sample Dockerfile for the server ist included.

TODOS:

• switch to https based communication
• create web client (React)