Expedite

Simple encrypted file transfer service

Introduction

Expedite is a simple encrypted file transfer service that allows for people to share synchronously assets among each other without having to rely on third party file sharing services (and constantly worrying about how their data might be used) or feeling the need of having publicly visible IP addresses (and constantly worrying about script kiddies attacking your computer).

Expedite Server can be deployed on a virtual private server having an IP address that is discoverable by the Expedite Client users to broker file contents. The transfers facilitated using WebSockets are end-to-end encrypted with the use of 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard and the server is restricted to logging only unidentifiable activities to the volatile memory.

Expedite is currently in BETA phase and if you like to direction the project is heading towards, kindly consider helping me out by starring the project repository, filing issue tickets for software errors or feature requests, contributing to the codebase of the project or sponsoring me to help maintain the servers and to help me keep working on more FOSS projects like these.

Offerings

You can either deploy your own Expedite Server to broker file contents from your group of Expedite Client users or you can use the following publicly available servers setup by me instead. Picking the server that is closer to your group of users can help with improving performance and reliability of the transfer. Please open up a pull request if you wish to list your server here.

Unsecured WebSockets connection

It is recommended for using the unsecured WebSockets connection only for testing and debugging purposes.

Mumbai, MH
ws://expedite-mumb.apexaltruism.net:6969
Atlanta, GA
ws://expedite-atla.apexaltruism.net:6969

Secured WebSockets connection

It is recommended for using the secured WebSockets connection for all kinds of general file sharing purposes.

Mumbai, MH
wss://expedite-mumb.apexaltruism.net or wss://expedite-mumb.apexaltruism.net:443
Grade A - Qualys
Test Result
Atlanta, GA
wss://expedite-atla.apexaltruism.net or wss://expedite-atla.apexaltruism.net:443
Grade A - Qualys
Test Result

Illustration

Client - Bridge - Info

Client - Bridge - Delivering - Static

Client - Bridge - Collecting - Static

Client - Bridge - Delivering - Progress

Client - Bridge - Collecting - Progress

Client - Prompt - Help

Client - Prompt - Delivering - Help

Client - Prompt - Collecting - Help

Client - Prompt - Delivering - Static

Client - Prompt - Collecting - Static

Client - Prompt - Delivering - Progress

Client - Prompt - Collecting - Progress

Server - Broker

Installation

For development

Ensure that the required tools and dependencies are installed.

$ sudo dnf install python3 python3-virtualenv python3-pip git poetry

Fork the repository and clone the project to your local storage.
```
$ git clone git@github.com:$(whoami)/expedite.git
```
Make the project cloning location the present working directory.
```
$ cd expedite
```
Create a virtual environment for installing project dependencies.
```
$ virtualenv venv
```
Activate the newly created virtual environment before proceeding.
```
$ source venv/bin/activate
```
Install the project codebase alongside the dependencies.
```
(venv) $ poetry install
```

For consumption

From PyPI

Ensure that the required tools and dependencies are installed.
```
$ sudo dnf install python3 python3-virtualenv python3-pip
```
Create a virtual environment for installing project dependencies.
```
$ virtualenv venv
```
Activate the newly created virtual environment before proceeding.
```
$ source venv/bin/activate
```
Install the project codebase from Python Package Index.
```
(venv) $ pip3 install expedite
```

From GitHub

Visit the GitHub Actions page of the project repository.
```
https://github.com/gridhead/expedite/actions
```
To get automated builds for GNU/Linux distributions, visit the following page.
```
https://github.com/gridhead/expedite/actions/workflows/gnul.yml
```
To get automated builds for Microsoft Windows, visit the following page.
```
https://github.com/gridhead/expedite/actions/workflows/mswn.yml
```
Please request for the builds if they are unavailable in the recent workflow runs.
```
https://github.com/gridhead/expedite/issues
```

Execution

Server

Ensure that the previously created virtual environment is activated.
```
$ source venv/bin/activate
```

Execute the following command to view the help topics of the project.

(venv) $ ed-server --help

Usage: ed-server [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -a, --addr TEXT           Set the interface for the service endpoint
                            [default: 127.0.0.1]
  -p, --port INTEGER RANGE  Set the port value for the service endpoint
                            [default: 8080; 64<=x<=65535]
  --version                 Show the version and exit.
  --help                    Show this message and exit.

Start the broker service using the following command.
```
(venv) $ ed-server --addr 0.0.0.0 --p 9090
```
1. The broker service will run on IPv4 addressing (i.e. 0.0.0.0) and on a specific port (i.e. 9090).
2. The broker service can be stopped by sending a keyboard interrupt (i.e. Ctrl + C) when done.
Note the IP address or the hostname for use by client connections.
```
ip a
```

Client

Ensure that the previously created virtual environment is activated.
```
$ source venv/bin/activate
```