Files
fips/docs
Johnathan Corgan 53ad528f7d fipstop: add "Listening on fips0" panel to Node tab
Surfaces local services reachable from the mesh, paired with their
current `inet fips` baseline filter classification. Lands to the
right of the existing TUN section in the Traffic block.

A new daemon control query `show_listening_sockets` returns IPv6
listeners bound to either `::` (wildcard) or the node's fd00::/8
address, each classified as Accept / Drop / Unknown / NoFirewall
against the running inbound chain. fipstop renders the result as a
table beside the Traffic counters: Accept rows in default White,
Drop / Unknown in DarkGray, a yellow banner above the table when
`fips-firewall.service` is inactive, and a trailing `*` on
wildcard binds to remind the operator the bind is not
fips0-specific.

Daemon side:

- `src/control/listening.rs` walks `/proc/net/tcp6` and
  `/proc/net/udp6` via the procfs crate (LISTEN state for TCP,
  wildcard remote for UDP), filters to fips0-reachable binds, and
  resolves inodes to PID / comm via `/proc/<pid>/fd`.

- `src/control/firewall_state.rs` shells out to
  `nft -j list table inet fips` and walks the inbound chain.
  Recognises canonical accepts (`tcp/udp dport N accept`,
  `dport { ... } accept`, `dport A-B accept`), the iifname-scoping
  line, conntrack and icmpv6 lines (skipped). Any rule with
  unrecognised matchers (saddr filters, jumps, daddr filters) or
  non-terminal verdicts forces Unknown classification for the
  ports it references. Eleven unit tests cover the classification
  logic; the listening enumerator carries a /proc-parsing test of
  its own.

- `show_listening_sockets` emits
  `{fips0_addr, firewall_active, sockets[]}` with per-row
  `{proto, local_addr, port, pid, process, filter, wildcard_bind}`.

fipstop side:

- `src/bin/fipstop/ui/dashboard.rs` splits the Traffic block into
  a 50/50 horizontal layout; the existing TUN + Forwarded panel
  occupies the left half.

- `src/bin/fipstop/ui/listening.rs` renders the right half.

- `main.rs` fetches the new query each tick when the Node tab is
  active. Errors are non-fatal: an old daemon without the query
  leaves the payload at None and the panel renders "loading...".

`Cargo.toml` gains `procfs = "0.18"` on the Linux target. IPv4
listeners are not enumerated — fips0 is IPv6-only.

Folded in: revert the default-socket lookup from writability-probe
back to existence-based selection. The previous tempfile-probe on
`/run/fips` silently steered fipstop / fipsctl onto an XDG path
the daemon never bound for any user in the `fips` group whose
shell session had not yet picked up the supplementary group (no
re-login after `usermod -aG`). `XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` is set on every
modern systemd-managed user session, so this hit the common case.
The kernel checks actual group membership at `connect(2)`, so a
user who genuinely cannot connect now gets a clear `EACCES`
rather than a silent path mismatch. Drops the now-unused
`is_writable_dir` helper. `XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` existence validation
is preserved.

Documentation:

- `docs/reference/cli-fipstop.md` — Node-tab row updated, new
  "Listening on fips0 panel" section.
- `docs/reference/control-socket.md` — `show_listening_sockets`
  added to the read-only queries table.
- `docs/how-to/enable-mesh-firewall.md` — new "Verify with
  fipstop" section.
- `docs/tutorials/host-a-service.md` — fipstop callouts at
  Steps 3, 5, 6 + Troubleshooting bullet + wildcard-bind reminder
  under "What you've learned".
- `CHANGELOG.md` — new bullet under `Added / Operator Tooling`,
  resolver `Fixed` entry rewritten to describe the
  existence-based final shape.
2026-05-08 21:36:42 +00:00
..

FIPS Documentation

FIPS (Free Internetworking Peering System) is a self-organizing encrypted mesh network built on Nostr identities, capable of operating over arbitrary transports — local networks, the public internet, Tor, Bluetooth, or point-to-point links — without central infrastructure.

With FIPS, your machine becomes a node in the mesh with a self-generated cryptographic identity. There are two ways to deploy it.

As an overlay on top of existing IP networks, FIPS lets your node reach any other FIPS node wherever it sits — behind a NAT, on a different ISP, on a phone over cellular, on a laptop with only Bluetooth in range, or behind a Tor onion. The mesh forwards IPv6 traffic transparently and end-to-end encrypted, with no central VPN concentrator or coordinating server.

From the ground up over raw Ethernet, WiFi, or Bluetooth, FIPS provides a complete permissionless network without any pre-existing IP infrastructure, ISP, or DNS. Any node that joins the link gets routable IPv6 addresses, peer discovery, and a path to every other node automatically.

Either way, existing networking software runs over it unchanged: SSH, HTTP servers, file transfer, anything IPv6-native works the same way it would on a local network.

New to FIPS? Start with the Getting Started guide.

Documentation Sections

Tutorials

If you are starting from scratch and want a guided path to a working mesh, go here.

How-To Guides

If you have a specific task in mind — enabling a feature, deploying a component, diagnosing a problem — go here.

Reference

If you need to look up wire formats, configuration keys, command flags, or counter inventories, go here.

Design

If you want to understand how the mesh self-organizes, why FIPS makes the choices it does, or how the pieces fit together, go here.