ParTCP Server

ParTCP server is a platform for conducting democratic decision making processes. This is beta software right now, so expect errors and missing features.

Technical documentation (in German only) can be found here.

System requirements

• Linux
• OpenSSL
• Apache2 with headers module
• PHP 7 with OpenSSL support and sodium extension
• Git (for convenient installation and upgrading only)

Installation (for testing environments only, not for production use!)

The following instructions assume that the root directory of your web server is /var/www/my-partcp.org, that the address is my-partcp.org and that the web server process is running as user www-data.

1. Clone project to your web server (as root)

   $ cd /var/www
   $ sudo git clone https://codeberg.org/ParTCP/partcp-server.git
   $ sudo mv partcp-server my-partcp.org
   

2. Make all files and directories accessible for all users

   $ cd my-partcp.org
   $ sudo find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
   $ sudo find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
   $ sudo chmod +x daemon/partcpd
   

3. Create a directory for storing server keys

   $ sudo mkdir /etc/partcp
   $ sudo chown www-data /etc/partcp
   $ sudo chmod 700 /etc/partcp
   

4. Create a directory for data storage

   $ sudo mkdir /var/www/my-partcp.org/data
   $ sudo chown www-data /var/www/my-partcp.org/data
   $ sudo chmod 755 /var/www/my-partcp.org/data
   

5. Adapt Apache configuration for ParTCP root directory

   <Directory "/var/www/my-partcp.org">
       # Make resources accessible regardless of client domain
       Header set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
       Header set Access-Control-Allow-Methods "GET, POST, OPTIONS"
       Header set Access-Control-Allow-Headers "Origin, Content-Type, Cookie, Accept, Authorization, Access-Control-Allow-Origin, User-Agent"
   
       # Enable auto indexing and other options
       Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
   
       # Auto index even if index file is present, and show hidden items
       DirectoryIndex disabled
       IndexIgnoreReset On
   
       # Have browsers handle YAML and Markdown files like plain text files
       AddType text/plain yaml md
       AddDefaultCharset utf-8
   
       # Let all POST requests be handled by process.php script
       RewriteEngine on
       RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^POST [NC]
       RewriteRule .* process.php
   </Directory>
   <Directory ~ "^/var/www/my-partcp.org/.+">
       # Do not execute PHP scripts in subdirectories, deliver them as plain text instead
       php_flag engine off
       AddType text/plain php
       AddDefaultCharset utf-8
   </Directory>
   

6. Reload Apache configuration

   $ sudo systemctl reload apache2
   

7. Create and edit configuration file

   $ sudo cp config-example.php config.php
   $ sudo nano config.php
   

   Adapt configuration parameters to your needs and finish editing by pressing <ctrl-o>, <return>, <ctrl-x>.

8. Send test message

   Check if the server works properly by sending a "ping" message from your local machine:

   $ curl -d "Message-Type: ping" my-partcp.org
   

   You should receive a response like this:

   Signature: WHM08/cytInHm2h4z64J1pUjNg2U88B1q1ovZA5ETxSkJYhJQuKjn2RoA9X6k5Y2HCOTrrVcfRpk6/agk8trAg==
   From: my-partcp.org
   Date: 2021-03-30T09:06:56+02:00
   Message-Type: receipt
   Original-Message: 'Message-Type: ping'
   Verification-Result: missing signature, nothing to verify
   Public-Key: >
       8BbYgAcG4yPfKKhh64+uo/AxV0NkcxhIAmnnHq1aAosBJQqBJk1Fy6Hj3g6vsZxOv4W/gN4NwzLTIGerDMNxHg==
   Elapsed-Time: 0.585 ms
   

Setting up a root account

1. Install ParTCP command line client on your local machine.

   https://codeberg.org/ParTCP/partcp-cli

2. Create local identity.

   $ partcp create_id root@my-partcp.org
   

3. Create random string as credential for key submission.

    $ export credential=`openssl rand -base64 12`
   

4. Generate credential hash code.

   $ echo -n $credential | sha256sum
   

   Copy output to clipboard.

5. Register participant on the server.

   Compose From and Participant-Id elements from identity created in step 2.

   $ partcp send
   To: my-partcp.org
   From: root@my-partcp.org
   Message-Type: registration
   Participant-Id: root
   Credential: <insert clipboard content here>
   <ctrl-D>
   

6. Submit the public key of the new identity to the server.

   Use random string from step 3 here.

   $ partcp submit_key root@my-partcp.org $credential
   

7. Appoint participant as root admin.

   $ partcp send
   To: my-partcp.org
   From: root@my-partcp.org
   Message-Type: root-appointment
   Participant-Id: root
   <ctrl-D>