% Namecoin pipe backend for PowerDNS
+There exists a project named
+[nmcontrol](https://github.com/namecoin/nmcontrol) to create an
+all-in-one tool that can, among other things, act as a DNS server
+for the `.bit` zone. There is also a tool,
+[NamecoinToBind](https://github.com/namecoin/NamecoinToBind),
+for offline conversion of namecoin data into BIND zone file.
+
+Unlike those, this project is a single-purpose tool acting as a (real
+time) bridge between [Namecoin](http://namecoin.info/) and DNS.
+It is implemented as a `pipe backend` to
+[PowerDNS](https://www.powerdns.com/), which provides stable DNS
+frontend, and has simple backend interface.
+
+## Building
+
+The program is built as a single executable to be run by PowerDns's
+pipe backend. It is written in [Haskell](http://www.haskell.org/).
+There is no `cabal` configuration at the moment, so to build it,
+simply run
+
```
-Copyright (c) 2014 Eugene Crosser
+ghc --make pdns-pipe-nmc
+```
+
+and install any missing packages it complains about.
-This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
-warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
-arising from the use of this software.
+## Installing
-Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
-including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
-freely, subject to the following restrictions:
+In the powerdns configuration, you want to specify `master=yes`.
+Enable `pipe` backend by setting `launch=pipe`.
+Wherever your pdns package keeps the backend configurations, set
+this for the pipe backend:
- 1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must
- not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this
- software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation
- would be appreciated but is not required.
+```
+pipe-command=/path/to/pdns-pipe-nmc
+pipe-timeout=10000
+pipe-regex=.bit;.*$
+pipebackend-abi-version=1 ## all versions supported, but extra data ignored
+```
- 2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must
- not be misrepresented as being the original software.
+Copy `pdns-pipe-nmc` to the place that you've set up as `pipe-command`.
+Copy your namecoin cofig file to `/etc/namecoin.conf` and make sure it
+is readable by the userid specified in the powerdns config. Entries
+recognized in the `/etc/namecoin.conf` file (with default values) are:
- 3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source
- distribution.
```
+rpcuser=
+rpcpassword=
+rpchost=localhost
+rpcport=8336
+```
+
+They are the parameters needed to contact the `namecoind` server over
+its JsonRPC interface. With default installation on `localhost`, you
+will only need to specify `rpcpassword`.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Configure your resolvers to use the PowerDns instance for queries in
+the `.bit` zone. This is left as an exercise to the reader.
-# Namecoin pipe backend for PowerDNS
+## Security Considerations
-There exists a [project](https://github.com/namecoin/nmcontrol) to
-create an all-in-one tool that can, among other things, act as a DNS
-server for the `.bit` zone. There is also a
-[tool](https://github.com/namecoin/NamecoinToBind) for offline
-conversion of namecoin data into BIND zone file.
+Namecoin per se has excellent non-repudiation characteristics. But
+once you've converted the data into (non-DNSSEC-protected) DNS
+format, all bets are off. If you intend to query your powerdns
+instance over public Internet, remember that nothing prevents evil
+hackers or ruthless governments from tampering with your queries
+and powerdns responses. There are two possible approaches to
+mitigation of this problem:
-Unlike that, this project is a single-purpose tool acting as a (real
-time) bridge between [Namecoin](https://namecoin.org/) and DNS.
-[PowerDNS](https://www.powerdns.com/) provides a stable DNS frontend,
-with an easy to implement backend interface, which is used in this
-project.
+* Run namecoind and powerdns as close to the consumer as
+possible: on the same host, or at least on the same network, and
+keep it guarded.
+* I did not try it, but it should be possible to use PowerDNS
+[Front-signing](http://doc.powerdns.com/html/dnssec-modes.html#dnssec-frontserver),
+so the communication will happen over DNSSEC protocol without the
+need to keep the signatures in the zone data itself. You probably
+would need to create signing key for the PowerDNS instance, and add
+the corresponding public key as "trused" into the configuration of
+your resolvers.
## Status
-Alpha. It does not handle `SRV` records at all, does not support
-`delegate` (not to mention `import`), provides bogus version in the
-`SOA` record, and is largely untested. Try at your risk.
+Alpha. It is largely untested, and there are loose ends in the
+functionality. For example, `delegate` does not work yet, version in the
+`SOA` record is bogus. Some of the the problems are due to incomplete
+and/or imprecise
+[definition of the domain data format](https://wiki.namecoin.info/index.php?title=Domain_Name_Specification)
+on the wiki. That said, I am using it to access some of the `.bit` websites
+and did not notice anomalies so far.
+
+Try at your risk.
+
+## Getting the Source
+
+Check the [project homepage](http://www.average.org/pdns-pipe-nmc/).
+
+Git [clone](git://git.average.org/git/pdns-pipe-nmc.git) or
+[browse](http://www.average.org/gitweb/?p=pdns-pipe-nmc.git;a=summary),
+or use [github mirror](https://github.com/crosser/pdns-pipe-nmc).
+
+## Author
+
+Eugene Crosser \<crosser at average dot org\>
+<http://www.average.org/~crosser/>
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