i2p.plugins.firefox

A port of the batch scripts from i2p.firefox to Java.

Getting started

Using a Binary

mkdir ~/tmp-i2pfirefox && cd ~/tmp-i2pfirefox
wget https://github.com/eyedeekay/i2p.plugins.firefox/releases/download/0.0.16/i2pfirefox.zip
unzip i2pfirefox.zip
./i2pfirefox.cmd

#or if you want to use a Chromium

./i2pchromium.cmd

Build Dependencies

You will need ant, java and for building the Chromium profile, a Go application called crx3 which is used to interact with the Chrome app store. I've been using Java 17 on Debian mostly, on Debian and Ubuntu, install the dependencies with:

sudo apt-get install openjdk-17* ant golang-go
go install github.com/mediabuyerbot/go-crx3/crx3@latest

For Fedora, use Yum, for Arch use pacman or something else but make sure to tell everyone about it. Once you have that installed, when building, make sure to add $GOPATH/bin/ to your $PATH.

export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/go/bin

Will almost always work.

Building

This is not actually a plugin yet, but it will be soon. The important bit is the jar. To generate that, you can either generate the full plugin, which will not work but produces the jar as a by-product, or you can:

ant jar

To build just the jar. You'll know it worked if you can:

java -cp ./src/build/i2pfirefox.jar net.i2p.i2pfirefox.I2PFirefox

and a new Firefox instance comes up with a fresh profile, ready-to-use for I2P browsing.

The cooler thing you can do with it is add it to an I2P distribution and somewhere in it, add a UI element that triggers something along the lines of this:

// Firefox Example
if (i2pIsRunning()) {
    logger.warning("I2P is already running");
    System.out.println("I2PFirefox");
    I2PFirefox i2pFirefox = new I2PFirefox();
    i2pFirefox.launch();
}

// Chromium Example
if (i2pIsRunning()) {
    logger.warning("I2P is already running");
    System.out.println("I2PChromium");
    I2PChromium i2pChromium = new I2PChromium();
    i2pChromium.launch();
}

// Auto-Select Example, chooses Firefox first, then Chromium
if (i2pIsRunning()) {
    logger.warning("I2P is already running");
    System.out.println("I2PBrowser");
    I2PBrowser i2pBrowser = new I2PBrowser();
    /*
     * toggle chromium to the top of the order by doing:
    I2PBrowser.chromiumFirst = true;
     * 
    */
    i2pBrowser.launch(privateBrowsing);
}

to add a browser management tool to it.

Browser Discovery Methods

This tool looks for browsers on the host system, creates a workspace to use for I2P purposes, and launches the browser inside of that workspace. The details of the workspace vary from browser to browser but roughly corresponds to a browser profile. In order to be successful this tool uses 3 main types of browser discovery methods, in this order:

1. "Local" discovery, where a browser is in a subdirectory of the directory where you ran the launcher. This will only happen if the user unpacked a portable browser into the same directory where they ran the launcher.
2. "Path-Based" discovery, where it scans common browser installation directories until it finds one which it can use. On Unix, it simply scans the directories on the PATH for a browser it knows about. On Windows, default paths to browser install directories are hard-coded and included in the binary. This is what usually happens.
3. "System-Based" discovery, where it defers to the host system to make a choice about the browser and counts on browser vendors to honor the system proxy environment variables. This is a catch-all solution which works with most browsers, but does not apply any customizations.

There is a little subtlety here though.

• The path to Edgium on Windows will always resolve during path-based discovery, resulting in a positive test for Chromium when launching the browser in auto-select mode. So Windows will never reach stage 3 unless expressly forced to. If Firefox or a variant is installed, it will be chosen before Edgium unless directed otherwise.
• Linux is unaware of a Tor Browser path because Tor Browser is rarely, if ever, installed on-path. What is on path is virtually always a wrapper for Tor Browser which is installed either as the main user or it's own user. Linux will only use Tor Browser if it's discovered in "Local" mode.
• The above is also true of OSX for now but doesn't have to remain so.
• I really only test Phase 3 with Dillo and Edgium. YMMV.

Usability vs Strict

This is basically a profile-management tool geared toward minimizing the differences between browser users which are passively discernible while they are browsing I2P. It assumes that they are part of a highly fragmented browsing environment where they are already unique, and therefore consolidation on configuration is a goal. However, this goal sometimes also conflicts with usability. To allow users a safe set of choices, we offer "Coarse" configuration in 2 modes. We recommend that you do not deviate from these configurations if you have browser application fingerprinting as a concern.

Usability Mode

TODO: description

Pros: Allows a restricted subset of Javascript Pros: Less likely to try and reach the clearnet

Cons: Looks very different from Tor Browser Cons: Plugin updates can create temporary uniqueness

Usability Extension Set

• I2P In Private Browsing
• uMatrix
• jsRestrictor
• LocalCDN
• Onion in Container Tabs
• HTTPS EveryWhere in some configurations

Usability user.js characteristics

TODO: Summarize differences

Strict Mode

TODO: description

Pros: Does not allow Javascript by default Pros: Looks a lot like Tor Browser especially if you're using Tor Browser

Cons: More work to use Cons: Temporary uniqueness can be created by enabling Javascript for specific sites Cons: More likely to try and reach the clearnet

Strict Extension Set

• NoScript
• I2P In Private Browsing
• HTTPS EveryWhere in some configurations

Strict user.js characteristics

TODO: Summarize differences