The generic systemd install tarball is the catch-all install path
for systemd Linux distros that don't have a per-format package
(Fedora, RHEL/CentOS, openSUSE, Alpine, etc.). It had drifted
behind the .deb and AUR packages and was missing fips-gateway, the
mesh-interface firewall baseline, and the multi-backend DNS helper
in the shipped tarball. Bring it to parity:
- New `packaging/systemd/fips-gateway.service` (clone of the .deb
unit; ExecStart pointed at `/usr/local/bin/fips-gateway`). Not
enabled at install time; operator opt-in.
- New `packaging/systemd/fips-firewall.service` (clone of the .deb
unit; nft path unchanged at `/usr/sbin/nft`). Not enabled at
install time; operator opt-in.
- `build-tarball.sh` now bundles the `fips-gateway` binary, the two
new units, the `fips.nft` baseline conffile, and the
`fips-dns-setup` / `fips-dns-teardown` multi-backend helpers from
`packaging/common/`.
- `install.sh` now installs `fips-gateway` to `/usr/local/bin/`,
installs both new units to `/etc/systemd/system/` (without
enabling them), preserves `/etc/fips/fips.nft` on upgrade like
`fips.yaml`, and creates the `/etc/fips/fips.d/` operator drop-in
directory. Post-install messaging mentions both opt-in services.
- `uninstall.sh` stops and disables the optional services in
dependency order (firewall, gateway, dns, daemon), removes the
new unit files, and removes the gateway binary. `--purge` already
handles `/etc/fips/` removal which covers `fips.nft` and
`fips.d/`.
- `README.install.md` documents all of the above: expanded
"What Gets Installed" table, new sections covering the firewall
baseline and the LAN gateway, refreshed DNS section reflecting
the multi-backend setup helper (systemd dns-delegate /
systemd-resolved drop-in / per-link resolvectl / dnsmasq /
NetworkManager-dnsmasq), and updated Service Management.
Also fixes a latent packaging bug: `install.sh` previously
referenced `${SCRIPT_DIR}/../common/fips-dns-setup`, a path that
exists only in the source-repo layout and not in the extracted
tarball. The script now resolves the helper from the staging
directory first (the tarball case), falling back to the source-repo
relative path. Bug latent since the multi-backend DNS helpers
landed.
CHANGELOG `[Unreleased]` documents the parity bump under Changed
and the path-resolution fix under Fixed.
Closes the longest-standing parity gap for non-Debian / non-Arch
systemd Linux distros installing from the release-distribution
tarball.
Replace the resolvectl-only fips-dns.service with a detection script
that configures whichever DNS resolver is available:
1. systemd dns-delegate (systemd >= 258, declarative drop-in)
2. systemd-resolved via resolvectl (most systemd distros)
3. dnsmasq (standalone)
4. NetworkManager with dnsmasq plugin
5. Warning with manual instructions if none found
Service reloads are non-fatal — config is written and the backend
is recorded even if the reload fails, preventing state file cleanup
issues under set -e.
Teardown reads the recorded backend from /run/fips/dns-backend and
reverses the configuration, or cleans up all possible backends if
the state file is missing.
Includes a Docker-based test harness (testing/dns-resolver/test.sh)
covering all five backends across Debian 12, Debian 13, Fedora,
and bare systems.
Fixes#52.
The fips-dns.service unit had three issues:
1. Wants=systemd-resolved.service caused systemd to start systemd-resolved
on systems that weren't using it, breaking existing DNS by rewriting
/etc/resolv.conf to the stub resolver at 127.0.0.53.
2. The ExecStart busy-wait loop for fips0 had no timeout, hanging forever
if fips.service failed to create the TUN device.
3. Installers unconditionally enabled fips-dns.service regardless of whether
systemd-resolved was present.
Fix by replacing Wants= with ConditionPathExists=/run/systemd/resolve (skips
cleanly if resolved isn't running), adding Requires=fips.service (won't start
without the daemon), bounding the fips0 wait loop to 30 seconds, and making
the installers conditional on systemd-resolved being active.
Add a HostMap that resolves human-readable hostnames to npubs,
enabling `gateway.fips` instead of the full `npub1...xyz.fips`.
Two sources populate the map: peer `alias` fields from the YAML
config and an operator-maintained hosts file at /etc/fips/hosts.
The DNS responder auto-reloads the hosts file on each request by
checking the file modification time, so operators can update
mappings without restarting the daemon.
- New src/upper/hosts.rs: HostMap, HostMapReloader, hostname
validation, hosts file parser with auto-reload on mtime change
- DNS resolver checks host map before falling back to direct npub
- Node uses host map for peer display names
- Default hosts file added to both .deb and tarball packaging
- 26 new tests (789 total)
Packaging directory structure:
- packaging/common/ — shared config (fips.yaml) used by all formats
- packaging/systemd/ — systemd-specific installer and service units
Systemd packaging includes:
- build-tarball.sh: builds release binaries and creates a self-contained
install tarball with stripped binaries
- fips.service: systemd unit running the daemon with security hardening
- fips-dns.service: oneshot unit configuring resolvectl to route .fips
domain queries to the FIPS DNS shim on 127.0.0.1:5354
- install.sh: deploys binaries to /usr/local/bin, installs systemd units,
creates fips group for non-root control socket access
- uninstall.sh: removes service and binaries, optional --purge for
config and identity key files
- README.install.md: installation and configuration guide
Default config enables UDP (2121), TCP inbound (8443), TUN, and DNS
resolver. Identity is ephemeral by default for privacy; operators can
uncomment persistent: true to maintain a stable npub for static peer
publishing. Ethernet transport is commented out for per-node setup.
Johnathan Corgan
