eyedeekay / the-i2p-applications

Explaining the basic I2P Applications as bundled with Java I2P, or not

The-I2P-Applications

Introduction

When you install the I2P router as made available at geti2p.net, you are actually installing an I2P router and an accompanying bundle of about a dozen basic applications. These are all made available to the user via a webUI, which listens at 127.0.0.1:7657, and the main page of which is called the "Router Console," where you monitor the health of all the applications that are using I2P and navigate I2P configuration, control, and feedback. This document, in order of significance to the new user, attempts to elucidate the relationship between I2P, Applications Internal to I2P, and Applications External to I2P, without going into too much detail about the areas in-between.

Table of Contents

• Applications for Users to get started with

1. The I2P Router Console: This is the "Start Menu" of I2P where you get information about the running I2P router, configure the application settings, and find shortcuts to other applications. Over the years, it has evolved considerable customizability.
2. I2P Hidden Services Manager: This is a general-purpose adapter for forwarding services into I2P and proxying client requests to and from I2P. It provides a variety of "Tunnel Types" which are able able to do advance filtering of traffic before it reaches I2P.
3. I2PSnark/Bittorrent: This is an I2P-Only bittorrent client, it never makes a connection to a peer over any other network,
4. The Addressbook: This is a simple, locally-defined list of human-readable addresses and corresponding I2P addresses. It integrates with other applications to allow the user to use those human-readable addresses in place of those I2P addresses.
5. SusiMail/E-Mail: SusiMail is a secure e-mail client which is primarily intended for use with Postman's e-mail servers inside of I2P. It is designed to avoid leaking information about e-mail use to other networks, as many e-mail clients sometimes do.
6. The QR Code Generator: Besides the Addressbook, I2P addresses can be shared by converting them into QR codes and scanning them with a camera. This is especially useful for Android devices where typing is inconvenient.

• Applications Outside I2P to use with I2P

1. Mozilla Firefox: A web browser with advanced privacy and security features, this is the best browser to adapt to your I2P use.
2. Chromium: A web browser developed by Google that is the Open-Source base of Google Chrome, this is sometimes used as an alternative to Firefox.
3. BiglyBT: A Feature-Rich bittorrent client. By that I mean absolutely riddled with features, really cool features, including I2P support and the unique ability to "Bridge" regular torrents in-to I2P so people can download them anonymously.
4. OpenSSH: OpenSSH is a popular program used by systems administrators to remotely administer a server, or to provide "Shell" accounts for users on the server.
5. Git/Gitlab: Git is a source-code control tool which is distributed, and often recommends a fork-first workflow. Hosting source code on I2P is an important activity, so Gitlab-specific instructions are available for all to use.
6. Debian and Ubuntu GNU/Linux: It is possible to obtain packages for Debian and Ubuntu GNU/Linux over I2P using apt-transport-i2p and apt-transport-i2phhtp. In the future, a bittorrent-based transport may also be developed.

• Applications for Developers to create new things

1. The SAM API Bridge: The SAM API is a language-independent API for writing applications that are I2P-native by communicating with the local I2P router. It can provide Streaming-like capabilities, Anonymous Datagrams, or Repliable Datagrams.
2. The BOB API Bridge: This is a deprecated technology, BOB users should migrate to SAM if it is possible for them to do so.
3. The I2CP API: Not strictly an application, this is how Java applications communicate with the I2P router to set up tunnels, generate and manage keys, and communicate with other peers on the network.