5 ms·

I was a long time user of this for both work and personal. It’s a really fantastic and underrated project. I’ve since followed the momentum and moved to wiregu

I was a long time user of this for both work and personal. It’s a really fantastic and underrated project. I’ve since followed the momentum and moved to wireguard, but I’m a little sad Tinc hasn’t gained the mindshare it deserves. The simplicity of config and mesh networking are far more pleasant and practical to work with than Wireguard, at the expense of a few ms in latency.

GekkePrutser 6y ago
Tinc seems to be growing still though. As of a few months there's finally a proper client for Android that doesn't require root! And it works really well. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pacien.tincapp&hl=en_US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pacien.tin... Only thing I have against tinc is that weird Apache logo... It looks so amateurist. Like a clip art pic that has nothing to do with the actual project.
- kitotik 6y ago
  Haha! I kinda hate to admit it, but I suspect a thorough rebrand including new logo, website, and friendly docs might drastically increase adoption.
- mirimir 6y ago
  Yes, that logo puzzles me. I mean, how is tinc like an Apache attack helicopter? Or more generally, how does it relate to warfare?
  - gsliepen 6y ago
    It made more sense in 1998 when tinc got its name. It refers to the Internet cabal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Is_No_Cabal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Is_No_Cabal), and three-letter agencies which would snoop your network traffic and send in unmarked vans and black helicopters if you did something they didn't like. Suggestions for a new logo are welcome!
    - GekkePrutser 6y ago
      Ah thanks for explaining this! I never knew that's what tinc stood for. Fun fact though: In 1998 there was no worldwide traffic snooping. That only happened with the reorganisation of US and NATO intelligence after 9/11 :) But good future prediction. I do think it would have happened either way. I just feel like tinc undermines itself with this logo. It's hard to take something seriously that doesn't take itself seriously. Even though it's an excellent project. I think something more generic like the logo on the recent android app would do (though probably a bit less generic than that!!)
marcrosoft 6y ago
How do you manage your wireguard setup? Mine breaks pretty much every time I upgrade because it depends on a kernel module. Maybe this goes away when I can upgrade to the latest kernel with native support?
- kitotik 6y ago
  I’m in a heterogeneous setup so it’s a mix of dkms, Linux kernel built-in, and the go userspace daemon depending on OS/Vendor. For Linux with kernel module, I’ve had the best luck using Arch and dkms.
- cyphar 6y ago
  If you're using distribution packages for WireGuard (whether they're in the official repos or not), they should be rebuilt with each kernel upgrade and so you shouldn't be having any issues with stability. But yes, if you upgrade to a kernel where WireGuard is part of the main kernel package (even if it's backported by your distribution) then you wouldn't have those issues either.
- zx2c4 6y ago
  Here's where we're at with WireGuard distro kernel shipping support, as of writing (July 4, 2020): - Ubuntu Focal 20.04 LTS: native built-in - Ubuntu Eoan 19.10: native built-in - Ubuntu Bionic 18.04 LTS: native built-in - Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 LTS: dkms :( - Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 LTS: dkms :( - Debian: native built-in - Fedora: native built-in - Mageia: native built-in - Arch: native built-in - OpenSUSE: native built-in - SUSE Linux Enterprise: native built-in - Alpine: native built-in - Gentoo: native built-in - Exherbo: native built-in - NixOS: native built-in - RHEL/CentOS: dkms and elrepo kmod :( - Void: native built-in - Adélie: native built-in - Source Mage: native built-in - Buildroot: native built-in The rule of thumb here is: distros with kernel ≥ 5.6 have it native built-in, plus a few distros that have backported it, like Ubuntu, Debian, and SUSE. I'm in the process of working with other distros to get it backported; we'll see if I'm successful. I'm also maintaining a 5.4.y backport for distros who ship this LTS kernel (like Oracle's UEK), to make backporting it easier: <https://git.zx2c4.com/wireguard-linux/log/?h=backport-5.4.y> https://git.zx2c4.com/wireguard-linux/log/?h=backport-5.4.y>. There are instructions for each distro on <https://www.wireguard.com/install/> https://www.wireguard.com/install/>. If you're presently having "update troubles", make sure you're using the latest variant of any of the "native built-in" distros written above.

GekkePrutser 6y ago

Tinc seems to be growing still though. As of a few months there's finally a proper client for Android that doesn't require root! And it works really well. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pacien.tincapp&hl=en_US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pacien.tin... Only thing I have against tinc is that weird Apache logo... It looks so amateurist. Like a clip art pic that has nothing to do with the actual project.

kitotik 6y ago
Haha! I kinda hate to admit it, but I suspect a thorough rebrand including new logo, website, and friendly docs might drastically increase adoption.
mirimir 6y ago
Yes, that logo puzzles me. I mean, how is tinc like an Apache attack helicopter? Or more generally, how does it relate to warfare?
- gsliepen 6y ago
  It made more sense in 1998 when tinc got its name. It refers to the Internet cabal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Is_No_Cabal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Is_No_Cabal), and three-letter agencies which would snoop your network traffic and send in unmarked vans and black helicopters if you did something they didn't like. Suggestions for a new logo are welcome!
  - GekkePrutser 6y ago
    Ah thanks for explaining this! I never knew that's what tinc stood for. Fun fact though: In 1998 there was no worldwide traffic snooping. That only happened with the reorganisation of US and NATO intelligence after 9/11 :) But good future prediction. I do think it would have happened either way. I just feel like tinc undermines itself with this logo. It's hard to take something seriously that doesn't take itself seriously. Even though it's an excellent project. I think something more generic like the logo on the recent android app would do (though probably a bit less generic than that!!)

marcrosoft 6y ago

How do you manage your wireguard setup? Mine breaks pretty much every time I upgrade because it depends on a kernel module. Maybe this goes away when I can upgrade to the latest kernel with native support?

kitotik 6y ago
I’m in a heterogeneous setup so it’s a mix of dkms, Linux kernel built-in, and the go userspace daemon depending on OS/Vendor. For Linux with kernel module, I’ve had the best luck using Arch and dkms.
cyphar 6y ago
If you're using distribution packages for WireGuard (whether they're in the official repos or not), they should be rebuilt with each kernel upgrade and so you shouldn't be having any issues with stability. But yes, if you upgrade to a kernel where WireGuard is part of the main kernel package (even if it's backported by your distribution) then you wouldn't have those issues either.
zx2c4 6y ago
Here's where we're at with WireGuard distro kernel shipping support, as of writing (July 4, 2020): - Ubuntu Focal 20.04 LTS: native built-in - Ubuntu Eoan 19.10: native built-in - Ubuntu Bionic 18.04 LTS: native built-in - Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 LTS: dkms :( - Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 LTS: dkms :( - Debian: native built-in - Fedora: native built-in - Mageia: native built-in - Arch: native built-in - OpenSUSE: native built-in - SUSE Linux Enterprise: native built-in - Alpine: native built-in - Gentoo: native built-in - Exherbo: native built-in - NixOS: native built-in - RHEL/CentOS: dkms and elrepo kmod :( - Void: native built-in - Adélie: native built-in - Source Mage: native built-in - Buildroot: native built-in The rule of thumb here is: distros with kernel ≥ 5.6 have it native built-in, plus a few distros that have backported it, like Ubuntu, Debian, and SUSE. I'm in the process of working with other distros to get it backported; we'll see if I'm successful. I'm also maintaining a 5.4.y backport for distros who ship this LTS kernel (like Oracle's UEK), to make backporting it easier: <https://git.zx2c4.com/wireguard-linux/log/?h=backport-5.4.y> https://git.zx2c4.com/wireguard-linux/log/?h=backport-5.4.y>. There are instructions for each distro on <https://www.wireguard.com/install/> https://www.wireguard.com/install/>. If you're presently having "update troubles", make sure you're using the latest variant of any of the "native built-in" distros written above.