Alternative AirVPN client with provider-independent double-hop support (GNU/Linux)

[corrado 100]

Version 0.5.0 is out including a few new features, including automatic reconnects if OpenVPN crashes for some reason or the tunnel interface dies. To make updates more convenient I included an (experimental) update feature that will automatically check for new releases on github and the possibility to conveniently download and install the update via the new "About" tab. I also fixed a few bugs and made the "Disconnect"-button permanently visible. For those of you that had issues with the tray icon, I included a simple tray option.
 

Superb progam, been using on Kali Linux no problems at all,

 

Thanks a lot, happy to hear that!

[greerd 5]

Hi coraddo,

​

​I've updated to Mint 19 (beta) and Qomui v 0.5.0. The good news is that the tray icons are working without using the simple tray option. The bad news is that I can no longer open the Edit firewall rules, tried with and without the firewall activated, I click on the Edit firewall rules button but nothing opens.

​

​Cheers

[corrado 100]

The good news is that the tray icons are working without using the simple tray option.

 

Glad that's finally working!

 

The bad news is that I can no longer open the Edit firewall rules, tried with and without the firewall activated, I click on the Edit firewall rules button but nothing opens.

 

Oooops, that's true on a fresh install as now the firewall config  file is no longer overwritten on updates and I forgot to implement a fallback to the default configuration for the firewall edit dialog. It's easily fixed, though. As a short-term solution just create a copy of the default configuration file - firewall_default.json - and name it firewall.json:

 

sudo cp /usr/share/qomui/firewall_default.json /usr/share/qomui/firewall.json

 

[snaggle 25]

Hi there,

 

Great project! and working as advertised on Manjaro Gnome with the exception of the tray icon.

It may be my system as I have no tray icon on the bottom left of the screen, I've just realized its missing!!

 

I only found Qomui as I was troubleshooting Eddie...again, glad I did... it's a keeper.

 

Thanks

[corrado 100]

I've just updated to v0.5.0 while being connected to an Air server with 0.4.1, then I closed Qomui manually and restarted it.

 

My settings were correctly saved after updating this time around. Other weird things happened though. I could no longer connect to any server for some reasons. A reboot fixed the issue. I tried

sudo systemctl status qomui-service

before rebooting and got a bunch of errors related to python 3.6. I forgot to save the output, my bad.

 

Plus, I tried to check "System tray: simple mode" option but Qomui crashed right after I pressed "Apply".

 

Once I restarted Qomui, I went to "About section" and it offered me to update to 0.5.0 version. I was already using 0.5.0 (pip said that Qomui 0.5 was successfully installed and noticed all the new features by myself) but I decided to accept the update anyway. It worked without trouble, now I'm no longer offered to update.

 

I suspect something most have gone wrong when you first updated to version 0.5.0. Otherwise the update shouldn't have been offered to you again via "About". One thing I think I forgot to mention: If you do an update manually it's not sufficient to just restart qomui-gui. The service has to be restarted to, otherwise it will be running the old version which obviously cannot work properly. I'm glad the auto-update actually fixed the issue - this feature was way harder to implement than I initially thought and keep in mind that it is an experimental feature as of now.

 

Another suggestion for next updates: please briefly write what's new in GitHub "release" section. Maybe you're going to do so and didn't have time yet, if that's the case then forget what I've just said. I know you keep us posted here in the thread, but it would be more coherent to have a sort of changelog directly on GitHub.

 

Also, you are totally right about adding descriptions to the releases on github. So far these have been mainly  added  to try out the auto-update function, I also added and deleted them a couple of times for testing purposes. I added a changelog file to the repository itself, though, with the latest ones also shown in the readme section.

 

"System tray: simple mode" option works fine on my end. A minor improvement would be to ask the user whether he wants to restart Qomui so that the change takes effect (after clicking on "Apply").

 

This setting should take effect immediately without reboot required as soon as the tray-icon changes again - after connects/disconnects.

 

Great project! and working as advertised on Manjaro Gnome with the exception of the tray icon.

It may be my system as I have no tray icon on the bottom left of the screen, I've just realized its missing!!

 

Default configuration of Gnome unfortunately doesn't feature a system tray. There are some extensions that add this functionality but I don't know whether Qomui will work correctly with those. On Ubuntu 18.04 which runs a modified version of Gnome Qomui's tray icon works as expected.

[snaggle 25]

Default configuration of Gnome unfortunately doesn't feature a system tray. There are some extensions that add this functionality but I don't know whether Qomui will work correctly with those. On Ubuntu 18.04 which runs a modified version of Gnome Qomui's tray icon works as expected.

Hi and thanks for response, I'm confident they are no leaks in the case the vpn goes down due to UFW's rules,  although a visual check is good too.

I've installed the Gnome extension Ip Finder https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1190/ip-finder/ It sits in the top bar and displays the countries flag and IP your connecting through. I am aware that IP Finder checks the IP every 30 seconds which makes it technically unfit for purpose but I like the placebo effect it gives.

Thanks again

[corrado 100]

I updated as usual with git clone repo + pip install and didn't get any error. Same thing happened on my second machine (which has exactly the same setup). I've also just tried on a virtual machine without any previous Qomui version installed, same. Here's a screenshot.

 

You're right, don't know why I didn't notice this during my test runs, guess I was too happy to get the update function finally working - will be fixed in the next update.

 

Since I updated to 0.5.0, I noticed that right clicking on the tray icon no longer shows the contex menu with "Show" or "Quit" but shows qomui-gui instead. Just like using the left click on the tray icon actually. Did you change that deliberately or is there something wrong on my end?

 

I'll have to look into that, works fine on my main machine (Arch/Plasma) and I haven't changed the code at all. What's your distro again?

 

One last question/suggestion: I use "qomui-gui" command to launch it when my machine boots. "Start minimized" is checked in the settings. However, at startup, qomui-gui appears both in task manager and system tray. A simple click on the entry in the task manager makes it disappear and then only the tray-icon remains. Is there a way to only show gthe system tray?

 

I struggled a lot with this - only having the tray icon was my main goal at first. Then I realized that on DEs without system tray such as Gnome this would obviously cause issues and on others (e.g. Ubuntu) it would just not work reliably. I know this is not an optimal solution, but changing it would break Qomui on some DEs. Since it's very time-consuming to test Qomui on all common DEs, I decided to stick to this for the moment. Currently, I have run tests on Arch/Plasma, Antergos/Gnome (will change to Fedora/Gnome), Mint/Cinnamon, Ubuntu/Gnome and Manjaro/XFCE (all clean up-to-date installations except Arch which is my main OS).

 

Hi and thanks for response, I'm confident they are no leaks in the case the vpn goes down due to UFW's rules,  although a visual check is good too.

I've installed the Gnome extension Ip Finder https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1190/ip-finder/ It sits in the top bar and displays the countries flag and IP your connecting through. I am aware that IP Finder checks the IP every 30 seconds which makes it technically unfit for purpose but I like the placebo effect it gives.

 

There are extensions that bring the traditional system tray back to Gnome. I would expect Qomui will work with those, but I can't guarantee. Otherwise, the firewall reliably defends against leaks in the default configuration.

[OpenSourcerer 1441]

It's refreshing to see a new OpenVPN software project coming up.

 

Are you planning on packaging this into .debs/.rpms?

[corrado 100]

It's refreshing to see a new OpenVPN software project coming up.

 

Are you planning on packaging this into .debs/.rpms?

 

Sorry for my late answer: Yes, it is planned - currently, I'm working on an AUR package and a .deb, there a just some unforeseen problems with the installer script that I have to iron out. Once that is done, I will look into .rpm, too.

[corrado 100]

A small update: As promised, version 0.5.1 introduces (experimental) support for AirVPN with ipv6 as well as tls-crypt. However, qomui currently does not support double-hop connections with ipv6 yet. If you have changed firewall rules via the respective option you should reset those to defaults or deactivate network lock/firewall. For reasons I don't quite understand the update routine fetches ipv6-adresses for ALL Airvpn servers (including those that do not support the new protocol(s) yet. Obviously, choosing ipv6 with an AirVPN server that does not support it yet, won't work.

 

Furthermore, I have uploaded qomui to the AUR, so Arch users can now download it from there. Deb-package will be released soon. 

[razzmudge 0]

Hi corrado!  Was having continued problems with the new Eddie client on Ubuntu 18.04 and saw your alternative in the forums. I followed your GitHub link and installed the Ubuntu dependencies and the git clone with no issues.

 

I then executed the install qomui step and the following errors were reported.  Any ideas where I went wrong?

 

error: can't copy 'resources/VERSION': doesn't exist or not a regular file 
    ----------------------------------------
Command "/usr/bin/python3 -u -c "import setuptools, tokenize;__file__='/tmp/pip-rmtks33d-build/setup.py';f=getattr(tokenize, 'open', open)(__file__);code=f.read().replace('\r\n', '\n');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, 'exec'))" install --record /tmp/pip-t2yh3iex-record/install-record.txt --single-version-externally-managed --compile" failed with error code 1 in /tmp/pip-rmtks33d-build/

[corrado 100]

Sorry @razzmudge - this was a temporary error in my setup.py that I have already fixed.

[corrado 100]

This was much much harder than initially expected but I have created .deb and rpm. packages to make the installation process a lot easier (and create less dependency issues).

 

Deb-Package:

qomui.0.5.1-amd64.deb

 

Rpm-Package:

qomui-0.5.1-1.x86_64.rpm

 

In the future, new versions will be available through the releases section on github.

[go558a83nk 364]

This was much much harder than initially expected but I have created .deb and rpm. packages to make the installation process a lot easier (and create less dependency issues).

 

Deb-Package:

qomui.0.5.1-amd64.deb

 

Rpm-Package:

qomui-0.5.1-1.x86_64.rpm

 

In the future, new versions will be available through the releases section on github.

 

 

thanks.  the other day I tried to install and got some pip3 error.  this should make it easier.

[greerd 5]

Hi corrado,

 

I can confirm that your .deb package works, thanks for the effort.

 

If you want nit-picking,  firejailed apps don't work from the Bypass section even though they will run from the command line, eg.

cgexec -g net_cls:bypass_qomui firejail /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable %U works but running Google Chrome from the Bypass list doesn't.

 

Cheers

[corrado 100]

Hi corrado,

 

I can confirm that your .deb package works, thanks for the effort.

 

If you want nit-picking,  firejailed apps don't work from the Bypass section even though they will run from the command line, eg.

cgexec -g net_cls:bypass_qomui firejail /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable %U works but running Google Chrome from the Bypass list doesn't.

 

Cheers

 

I know the reason for that; currently, qomui dismisses all additional parameters when calling a program via the gui. I will try to find a better solution.

[strykenKN 0]

Hello,

 

great, what you have put there, would be glad if you could make something for us windows user synonymous something. Would certainly be possible or? Because I also use a second VPN. And other users would certainly be happy and if it must be, I would even pay for it.

[zhang888 1066]

 

Hello,

 

great, what you have put there, would be glad if you could make something for us windows user synonymous something. Would certainly be possible or? Because I also use a second VPN. And other users would certainly be happy and if it must be, I would even pay for it.

 

Like...a virtual machine?

You can already do it with any provider.

[snaggle 25]

Hi there, Version 0.5.1 installed from Qomui gui crashes on attempting connection.

Previous version 0.5.0? runs perfectly.

 

Edit: Manjaro Gnome.

[corrado 100]

@snaggle: strange, this shouldn't happen. Can you start qomui via terminal (just type "qomui-gui") and post the output? Alternatively, try uninstalling qomui and then installing via AUR - this is the recommended way for Arch-based distributions.

 

@strykenKN: for now I'm not planning a Windows version - some things such as doublehop or bypass won't work on Windows the way I have implemented them for GNU/Linux, so these features would have to be rewritten from scratch. Furthermore, my focus is now on bug-fixing, packaging and releasing a cli-version + maybe support for wireguard. After all that, I might start thinking about other platforms.

[strykenKN 0]

Okay then I know that.

I still have a question, because I think about the whole time to switch to Linux or to install Fedora next to Windows (unfortunately I still need Windows). Supports your client like Eddie, SSL / SSH over 443 (2-3-4), Wireguard etc.

Thank you for your tireless work and effort, I just think great.

[corrado 100]

I still have a question, because I think about the whole time to switch to Linux or to install Fedora next to Windows (unfortunately I still need Windows). Supports your client like Eddie, SSL / SSH over 443 (2-3-4), Wireguard etc.

 

OpenVPN over SSL/SSH for AirVPN is already working and I'm strongly thinking about adding wireguard support, too.

[strykenKN 0]

@corrado

thanks for your info. So I have now installed next to Windows 10 Linux Mint 19, I found easier and nicer.

Now have your client on it and that runs damn fast and well and everything works. Now I'm thinking about getting Mullad and they're offering Wireguard.

Do you know if the servers for Wireguard are also downloaded from your client? Or do I have to tinker around?

Don't be angry, I ask a lot because I want to use it properly and I'm just new to Linux and VPN.

I would be happy about Wireguard function.

Thanks for your time.

 

[strykenKN 0]

which would be cool to offer VyprVPN.

[corrado 100]

thanks for your info. So I have now installed next to Windows 10 Linux Mint 19, I found easier and nicer.

 

Now have your client on it and that runs damn fast and well and everything works. Now I'm thinking about getting Mullad and they're offering Wireguard.

 

Do you know if the servers for Wireguard are also downloaded from your client? Or do I have to tinker around?

 

Don't be angry, I ask a lot because I want to use it properly and I'm just new to Linux and VPN.

 

I would be happy about Wireguard function.

 

Happy to welcome you to GNU/Linux! Currently, Qomui doesn't support wireguard yet, so Mullvad's wireguard configurations are not downloaded. I will add wireguard support in one of the next releases, though. 

 

which would be cool to offer VyprVPN.

 

Qomui supports most providers, but it does not automatically download configuration files for all of them. You can easily use VyprVPN with Qomui by first downloading their configuration files (if they don't offer any, don't bother with them) and adding them via the provider tab - choose "Manually add config file folder".