Subj : ftelnet + ssl
To   : Phigan
From : Ree
Date : Fri Apr 14 2023 18:44:00

> Speaking of ftelnet, I'm trying to self-host the js and the proxy.. 

Synchronet comes with websocketservice.js, so the proxy is already self-hosted
(maybe that's what you are referring to, just wanted to be sure because running
fTelnetProxy locally would be overkill for a Synchronet system).  And I'd
recommend not self-hosting the JS.  It's hosted on GitHub and cached by
Cloudflare, so should be pretty reliable.  If you do self-host it, you may want
to setup a cron job to download the latest files from the GitHub repo
periodically -- I don't regularly work on it, but every once in awhile I'll add
a feature or fix a bug.

> It seems like I -have- to use encryption from the proxy to the BBS since my
> incoming connection is HTTPS only (no HTTP). Is there a way to use a self
> signed certificate? 

Correct, if the web visitor is using https, then the websocket connection from
the visitor to the proxy must be using the encrypted wss protocol.  Using a
self signed certificate for wss would have the same drawbacks as using one for
https, primarily that each visitor would need to follow some steps before it
would be trusted by the browser.

> It didn't work for me at all unless I used the same VALID certificate on both
> the web server and the proxy... and unfortunately this makes all incoming
> connections to the BBS look like they are coming from a local IP.

Seeing a local IP doesn't have anything to do with using the same certificate
on both the web server and the proxy.  When a visitor comes to your website and
connects via fTelnet, their computer connects to the proxy, and then the proxy
connects to the BBS.  This means the BBS sees whatever IP the proxy is running
on, which will be the local IP if the BBS and proxy are on the same machine.

But Synchronet and fTelnet support a telnet option that will allow Synchronet
to get the visitor's true IP, so something must not be working correctly if
you're seeing the local IP.  Do you have the latest version of Synchronet and
fTelnet?  I just fixed a bug related to this feature recently, so that could be
the issue if you still have the bugged js.

---
 ￭ Synchronet ￭ fTelnet Demo Server - ftelnet.synchro.net
 * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

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