Contents of /trunk/Mix/README

Mixmaster version 3 -- anonymous remailer software -- (C) 1999 Anonymizer Inc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PREVIEW VERSION  ---  WARNING: THIS SOFTWARE IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT!

This program consists of

* a remailer client:

  The remailer client supports sending anonymous mail using Cypherpunk
  and Mixmaster remailers, managing pseudonyms at Newnym nym servers
  and receiving mail anonymously from Cypherpunk remailers. It supports
  OpenPGP encryption (compatible with PGP 2, PGP 5 and up, and GnuPG).

  The client can be used with a menu-based user interface and with
  command line options.

* a remailer:

  The remailer supports the Cypherpunk and Mixmaster message formats.
  It can be integrated with the mail delivery system of Unix-based
  computers or use the POP3 and SMTP protocols for mail transfer.
  Mixmaster includes an automated abuse-handling system.

Please report any problems via the bug and patch trackers at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mixmaster/


Installation:
------------

Libraries:

  Mixmaster uses the cryptographic library OpenSSL. If you want to use
  the menu-based user interface, you also need the ncurses library. If
  these libraries are not installed on your system, get them from
  ftp://mixmaster.anonymizer.com/ and extract them in the Src
  directory first.

  The Perl Compatable Regular Expressions library can be obtained from
  ftp://ftp.csx.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/programming/pcre/

  The zlib compression libraries can be obtained at
  http://www.gzip.org/zlib/

To install or upgrade Mixmaster, type `./Install'.

Mixmaster uses lists of currently operating remailers and information
about their reliability. You can get the current remailer lists from
http://stats.melontraffickers.com/ and http://anon.efga.org/ and via
finger from nym.alias.net:

  pubring.asc    Type 1 remailer keys
  pubring.mix    Type 2 remailer keys
  rlist.txt      List of reliable type 1 remailers
  mlist.txt      List of reliable type 2 remailers
  type2.list     List of known type 2 remailers (optional)

If you wish to participate in the Remailer Abuse Blocklist, you will need
to obtain the blocklist file from http://www.paracrypt.com/remailerabuse/
and place it in your Mix directory. This may be automated with cron.

For support for multiple RAB services, edit the file Src/config.h manually,
and add additional block files to the existing line, such as:

#define DESTBLOCK "dest.blk rab.blk rab2.blk rab3.blk"

Note that only the first file should the the local block list, as it is the
only file mix will open for writing. Most users will not need to edit
config.h.


Using the remailer client:
-------------------------

To use the menu-based user interface, simply run `mix'. To send an
anonymous or pseudonymous reply to a message from within your mail or
news reader, you can pipe it to `mix'.

The interactive mode supports sending mail, manages pseudonymous
accounts at nym servers and contains a simple mail reading function.
OpenPGP messages are encrypted and decrypted automatically. It can
also decrypt messages encrypted to ordinary non-anonymous OpenPGP keys
if you use the same passphrase for the nyms as for the OpenPGP key.

In the non-interactive mode, Mixmaster reads a message from a file or
from its standard input. The command line options are described in the
manual page (mix.1).


Mixmaster as a remailer:
-----------------------

The Mixmaster remailer can be installed on any account that can
receive mail. Non-remailer messages will be delivered as usual. If
you have root access, you may want to create a new user (e.g.,
`remailer') and install Mixmaster under that user id.

The Install script provides a simple way to set up the remailer. More
information about configuring Mixmaster can be found in the manual
page. Typically, incoming mail is piped to "mix -RM". In a UUCP
setting, it may be useful to use just "mix -R", and run "mix -S" once
all messages have arrived.

Announcing a new remailer to the public is most commonly done by posting
the remailer keys and capabilities to alt.privacy.anon-server as well as
the "remops" mailing list. Information about the remops list can be found
here: http://lexx.shinn.net/mailman/listinfo/remops

To upgrade from a Mixmaster 2.0.* remailer installation, make a
backup of your keys and configuration files before you run Install.


Installation problems:
---------------------

In case one of the libraries Mixmaster uses is installed incorrectly
on your system, place the library source code (available from
ftp://mixmaster.anonymizer.com) in the Src directory, remove the old
Makefile, run the Install script again and answer `y' when asked
whether to use the source code.

The ncurses library can use termcap and terminfo databases. The
Mixmaster Install script tries to find out whether terminfo is
available. If you get a "Can't open display" error when starting
the Mixmaster menu, run "./configure --enable-termcap; make lib/libncurses.a"
in the ncurses directory.


Security notes:
--------------

The ciphers and the anonymizing mix-net protocol used in Mixmaster
correspond to the state of the art (see the Security Considerations
section of the Mixmaster Protocol specification for details). However,
no security proofs exist for any practical cryptosystem. It is
unlikely that their security will be broken, but there is no "perfect
security". Software can also contain implementation errors. The
complete Mixmaster source code is available for public review, so that
everyone can verify what the program does, and it is unlikely that
security related errors or secret back doors in the software would go
unnoticed.

No software is secure if run in an insecure environment. For that
reason you must make sure that there is no malicious software (such as
viruses) running on your computer. Deleted files and even passphrases
can in many cases be read from the hard disk if an adversary has
access to the computer. The use of disk encryption programs is
recommended to avoid this risk.

Anonymous messages are secure as long as at least one of the remailers
you use in a chain is honest. You can use up to 20 remailers in a
chain, but reliability and speed decrease with longer chains. Four is
a reasonable number of remailers to use. Many remailer operators sign
their keys. You should verify those signatures with OpenPGP to make
sure that you have the actual remailer keys.

Anonymous keys usually cannot be introduced to the OpenPGP web of
trust without giving up anonymity. For that reason, this client will
use any OpenPGP key found on the key ring, whether it is certified or
not. Your key ring must not contain any invalid keys when used with
this program.

If you want to use a pseudonym, the client will ask you for a
passphrase to protect the nym database. Your passphrase should be
long, and hard to guess. Anyone who gets hold of your nym database and
private keys and can determine the passphrase will be able to
compromise your pseudonymous identities. Note that some operating
systems may store your passphrase on your hard disk in clear.

While a good client passphrase can protect your keys if someone gets
hold of your files, the remailer passphrase offers only casual
protection for the remailer keys. If you install a remailer, the
remailer passphrase must be different from your private passphrases.


Copyright:
---------

Mixmaster may be redistributed and modified under certain conditions.
This software is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the file COPYRIGHT for
details.

A license is required to use the IDEA(TM) algorithm for commercial
purposes; see the file idea.txt for details.

Mixmaster uses the compression library zlib by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark
Adler, the free ncurses library and the regex library by Philip Hazel.
This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young
(eay@cryptsoft.com). This product includes software developed by the
OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.OpenSSL.org/).
For some platforms: This product includes software developed by the
University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

$Id$
1	rabbi	1	Mixmaster version 3 -- anonymous remailer software -- (C) 1999 Anonymizer Inc.
2			------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3
4			PREVIEW VERSION --- WARNING: THIS SOFTWARE IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT!
5
6			This program consists of
7
8			* a remailer client:
9
10			The remailer client supports sending anonymous mail using Cypherpunk
11			and Mixmaster remailers, managing pseudonyms at Newnym nym servers
12			and receiving mail anonymously from Cypherpunk remailers. It supports
13	rabbi	126	OpenPGP encryption (compatible with PGP 2, PGP 5 and up, and GnuPG).
14	rabbi	1
15			The client can be used with a menu-based user interface and with
16			command line options.
17
18			* a remailer:
19
20			The remailer supports the Cypherpunk and Mixmaster message formats.
21			It can be integrated with the mail delivery system of Unix-based
22			computers or use the POP3 and SMTP protocols for mail transfer.
23			Mixmaster includes an automated abuse-handling system.
24
25	rabbi	10	Please report any problems via the bug and patch trackers at
26			http://sourceforge.net/projects/mixmaster/
27	rabbi	1
28
29			Installation:
30			------------
31
32			Libraries:
33
34			Mixmaster uses the cryptographic library OpenSSL. If you want to use
35			the menu-based user interface, you also need the ncurses library. If
36			these libraries are not installed on your system, get them from
37			ftp://mixmaster.anonymizer.com/ and extract them in the Src
38			directory first.
39
40			The Perl Compatable Regular Expressions library can be obtained from
41			ftp://ftp.csx.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/programming/pcre/
42
43			The zlib compression libraries can be obtained at
44	rabbi	126	http://www.gzip.org/zlib/
45	rabbi	1
46			To install or upgrade Mixmaster, type `./Install'.
47
48			Mixmaster uses lists of currently operating remailers and information
49			about their reliability. You can get the current remailer lists from
50	rabbi	126	http://stats.melontraffickers.com/ and http://anon.efga.org/ and via
51	rabbi	16	finger from nym.alias.net:
52	rabbi	1
53			pubring.asc Type 1 remailer keys
54			pubring.mix Type 2 remailer keys
55			rlist.txt List of reliable type 1 remailers
56			mlist.txt List of reliable type 2 remailers
57			type2.list List of known type 2 remailers (optional)
58
59	weaselp	341	If you wish to participate in the Remailer Abuse Blocklist, you will need
60			to obtain the blocklist file from http://www.paracrypt.com/remailerabuse/
61	rabbi	1	and place it in your Mix directory. This may be automated with cron.
62
63			For support for multiple RAB services, edit the file Src/config.h manually,
64			and add additional block files to the existing line, such as:
65
66			#define DESTBLOCK "dest.blk rab.blk rab2.blk rab3.blk"
67
68			Note that only the first file should the the local block list, as it is the
69	weaselp	341	only file mix will open for writing. Most users will not need to edit
70	rabbi	1	config.h.
71
72
73			Using the remailer client:
74			-------------------------
75
76			To use the menu-based user interface, simply run `mix'. To send an
77			anonymous or pseudonymous reply to a message from within your mail or
78			news reader, you can pipe it to `mix'.
79
80			The interactive mode supports sending mail, manages pseudonymous
81			accounts at nym servers and contains a simple mail reading function.
82			OpenPGP messages are encrypted and decrypted automatically. It can
83			also decrypt messages encrypted to ordinary non-anonymous OpenPGP keys
84			if you use the same passphrase for the nyms as for the OpenPGP key.
85
86			In the non-interactive mode, Mixmaster reads a message from a file or
87			from its standard input. The command line options are described in the
88			manual page (mix.1).
89
90
91			Mixmaster as a remailer:
92			-----------------------
93
94			The Mixmaster remailer can be installed on any account that can
95			receive mail. Non-remailer messages will be delivered as usual. If
96			you have root access, you may want to create a new user (e.g.,
97			`remailer') and install Mixmaster under that user id.
98
99			The Install script provides a simple way to set up the remailer. More
100			information about configuring Mixmaster can be found in the manual
101			page. Typically, incoming mail is piped to "mix -RM". In a UUCP
102			setting, it may be useful to use just "mix -R", and run "mix -S" once
103			all messages have arrived.
104
105	rabbi	133	Announcing a new remailer to the public is most commonly done by posting
106			the remailer keys and capabilities to alt.privacy.anon-server as well as
107			the "remops" mailing list. Information about the remops list can be found
108			here: http://lexx.shinn.net/mailman/listinfo/remops
109
110	rabbi	1	To upgrade from a Mixmaster 2.0.* remailer installation, make a
111			backup of your keys and configuration files before you run Install.
112
113
114			Installation problems:
115			---------------------
116
117			In case one of the libraries Mixmaster uses is installed incorrectly
118			on your system, place the library source code (available from
119			ftp://mixmaster.anonymizer.com) in the Src directory, remove the old
120			Makefile, run the Install script again and answer `y' when asked
121			whether to use the source code.
122
123			The ncurses library can use termcap and terminfo databases. The
124			Mixmaster Install script tries to find out whether terminfo is
125			available. If you get a "Can't open display" error when starting
126	weaselp	341	the Mixmaster menu, run "./configure --enable-termcap; make lib/libncurses.a"
127	rabbi	1	in the ncurses directory.
128
129
130			Security notes:
131			--------------
132
133			The ciphers and the anonymizing mix-net protocol used in Mixmaster
134			correspond to the state of the art (see the Security Considerations
135			section of the Mixmaster Protocol specification for details). However,
136			no security proofs exist for any practical cryptosystem. It is
137			unlikely that their security will be broken, but there is no "perfect
138			security". Software can also contain implementation errors. The
139			complete Mixmaster source code is available for public review, so that
140			everyone can verify what the program does, and it is unlikely that
141			security related errors or secret back doors in the software would go
142			unnoticed.
143
144			No software is secure if run in an insecure environment. For that
145			reason you must make sure that there is no malicious software (such as
146			viruses) running on your computer. Deleted files and even passphrases
147			can in many cases be read from the hard disk if an adversary has
148			access to the computer. The use of disk encryption programs is
149			recommended to avoid this risk.
150
151			Anonymous messages are secure as long as at least one of the remailers
152			you use in a chain is honest. You can use up to 20 remailers in a
153			chain, but reliability and speed decrease with longer chains. Four is
154			a reasonable number of remailers to use. Many remailer operators sign
155			their keys. You should verify those signatures with OpenPGP to make
156			sure that you have the actual remailer keys.
157
158			Anonymous keys usually cannot be introduced to the OpenPGP web of
159			trust without giving up anonymity. For that reason, this client will
160			use any OpenPGP key found on the key ring, whether it is certified or
161			not. Your key ring must not contain any invalid keys when used with
162			this program.
163
164			If you want to use a pseudonym, the client will ask you for a
165			passphrase to protect the nym database. Your passphrase should be
166			long, and hard to guess. Anyone who gets hold of your nym database and
167			private keys and can determine the passphrase will be able to
168			compromise your pseudonymous identities. Note that some operating
169			systems may store your passphrase on your hard disk in clear.
170
171			While a good client passphrase can protect your keys if someone gets
172			hold of your files, the remailer passphrase offers only casual
173			protection for the remailer keys. If you install a remailer, the
174			remailer passphrase must be different from your private passphrases.
175
176
177			Copyright:
178			---------
179
180			Mixmaster may be redistributed and modified under certain conditions.
181			This software is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
182			ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the file COPYRIGHT for
183			details.
184
185			A license is required to use the IDEA(TM) algorithm for commercial
186			purposes; see the file idea.txt for details.
187
188			Mixmaster uses the compression library zlib by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark
189			Adler, the free ncurses library and the regex library by Philip Hazel.
190			This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young
191			(eay@cryptsoft.com). This product includes software developed by the
192			OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.OpenSSL.org/).
193			For some platforms: This product includes software developed by the
194			University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.
195
196			All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
197
198	weasel	647	$Id$