Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/jech/galene

The Galène videoconference server
https://github.com/jech/galene

file-sharing galene sfu video-conference video-conferencing videoconference webapp webrtc

Last synced: 7 days ago
JSON representation

The Galène videoconference server

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
Galene is a videoconferencing server that is easy to deploy and requires

moderate server resources.  It is described at .



# Installation



Quick start:



    git clone https://github.com/jech/galene

    cd galene

    CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -ldflags='-s -w'

    mkdir groups

    echo '{"users": {"bob": {"password":"1234", "permissions":"op"}}}' > \

        groups/example.json

    ./galene &



Point your browser at , ignore the

unknown certificate warning, and log in with username "bob" and password

"secret".



See the file INSTALL in this directory for full installation instructions.



# Usage



## Locations



There is a landing page at the root of the server.  It contains a form

for typing the name of a group, and a clickable list of public groups.



Groups are available under `/group/groupname/`.  You may share this URL

with others, there is no need to go through the landing page.



Recordings can be accessed under `/recordings/groupname/`.  This is only

available to the administrator of the group.



Some statistics are available under `/stats.json`, with a human-readable

version at `/stats.html`.  This is only available to the server administrator.



## Main interface



After logging in, the user is confronted with the main interface.



### Buttons



There are up to three buttons at the top.  The *Enable*/*Disable* button

enables either or both the camera and the microphone (depending on the

options set in the side menu, see below).  The *Mute* button mutes or

unmutes the microphone.  The *Share Screen* button shares the screen or

a window.



### Side menu



There is a menu on the right of the user interface.  This allows choosing

the camera and microphone and setting the video throughput.  The

*Blackboard mode* checkbox increases resolution and sacrifices framerate

in favour of image quality.  The *Play local file* dialog allows streaming

a video from a local file.



### User list



There is a user list on the left.  Clicking on a user opens a menu with

actions that can be applied to that user.  Clicking on ones own username

opens a menu with actions that are global to the group.



### Chat pane



Double-clicking on a message opens a contextual menu.



### Text box



Typing a string in the text box at the bottom of the chat pane sends

a broadcast message to all of the users in the group.



Typing a line starting with a slash `/` in the text box causes a command

to be sent to the server.  Type `/help` to get the list of available

commands; the output depends on whether you are an operator or not.



# The global configuration file



The server may be configured in the JSON file `data/config.json`.  This

file may look as follows:



    {

        "users":{"root": {"password":"secret", "permissions": "admin"}},

        "canonicalHost": "galene.example.org"

    }



or, better, with a hashed password:



    {

        "users": {

            "root": {

                "password":{"type":"bcrypt","key":"$2a$10$bTWW..."},

                "permissions": "admin"

            }

        },

        "canonicalHost": "galene.example.org"

    }



The fields are as follows:



 - `users` defines the users allowed to administer the server, and has the

   same syntax as user definitions in groups (see below), except that the

   only meaningful permission is `"admin"`;



 - `writableGroups`: if true, then the API can modify group description

   files; by default, group files are treated as read-only;



 - `publicServer`: if true, then cross-origin access to the server is

   allowed.  This makes the server vulnerable to cross-origin scripting

   attacks, but is necessary in some cases.



 - `proxyURL`: if running behind a reverse proxy, this specifies the root

   URL that will be visible outside the proxy.



 - `canonicalHost`: the canonical name of the host running the server;

   this will cause clients to be redirected if they use a different

   hostname to access the server.



# Group definitions



Groups are defined by files in the `./groups` directory (this may be

configured by the `-groups` command-line option, try `./galene -help`).

The definition for the group called *groupname* is in the file

`groups/groupname.json`; it does not contain the group name, which makes

it easy to copy or link group definitions.  You may use subdirectories:

a file `groups/teaching/networking.json` defines a group called

*teaching/networking*.



## Examples



A typical group definition file looks like this:



    {

        "users":{

            "jch": {"password":"1234", "permissions": "op"}

        },

        "allow-recording": true,

        "auto-subgroups": true

    }



This defines a group with the operator (administrator) username *jch* and

password *1234*.  The `allow-recording` entry says that the operator is

allowed to record videos to disk, and the `auto-subgroups` entry says

that subgroups will be created automatically.  This particular group does

not allow password login for ordinary users, and is suitable if you use

invitations (see *Stateful Tokens* below) for ordinary users.



In order to allow password login for ordinary users, add password entries

with the permission `present`:



    {

        "users":{

            "jch":  {"password": "1234", "permissions": "op"}

            "john": {"password": "secret", "permissions": "present"}

        }

    }



If the group is to be publicly accessible, you may allow logins with any

username using the `wildcard-user` entry::



    {

        "users":{

            "jch": {"password":"1234", "permissions": "op"}

        },

        "wildcard-user": {"password": "1234", "permissions": "present"},

        "public": true

    }



If you want to allow users to use any password, use a wildcard password:



    {

        "users":{

            "jch": {"password":"1234", "permissions": "op"}

        },

        "wildcard-user":

            {"password": {"type": "wildcard"}, "permissions": "present"},

        "public": true

    }



## Reference



Every group definition file contains a single JSON directory (a list of

entries between `{' and `}').  All fields are optional, but unless you

specify at least one user definition (`op`, `presenter`, or `other`),

nobody will be able to join the group.  The following fields are allowed:



 - `users`: is a dictionary that maps user names to dictionaries with

   entries `password` and `permissions`; see below for a description of

   possible permissions;



 - `wildcard-user` is a dictionaries with entries `password` and `permissions`

   that will be used for usernames with no matching entry in the `users`

   dictionary;



 - `authKeys`, `authServer` and `authPortal`: see *Authorisation* below;



 - `public`: if true, then the group is listed on the landing page;



 - `displayName`: a human-friendly version of the group name;



 - `description`: a human-readable description of the group; this is

   displayed on the landing page for public groups;



 - `contact`: a human-readable contact for this group, such as an e-mail

   address, ignored by the server;



 - `comment`: a human-readable string, ignored by the server;



 - `max-clients`: the maximum number of clients that may join the group at

   a time;



 - `max-history-age`: the time, in seconds, during which chat history is

   kept (default 14400, i.e. 4 hours);



 - `not-before` and `expires`: the times (in ISO 8601 or RFC 3339 format)

   between which joining the group is allowed;



 - `allow-recording`: if true, then recording is allowed in this group;



 - `unrestricted-tokens`: if true, then ordinary users (without the "op"

   privilege) are allowed to create tokens;



 - `allow-anonymous`: if true, then users may connect with an empty username;



 - `auto-subgroups`: if true, then subgroups of the form `group/subgroup`

   are automatically created when first accessed;



 - `autolock`: if true, the group will start locked and become locked

   whenever there are no clients with operator privileges;



 - `autokick`: if true, all clients will be kicked out whenever there are

   no clients with operator privileges; this is not recommended, prefer

   the `autolock` option instead;



 - `redirect`: if set, then attempts to join the group will be redirected

   to the given URL; most other fields are ignored in this case;



 - `codecs`: this is a list of codecs allowed in this group.  The default

   is `["vp8", "opus"]`.



The value of the `permissions` entry in a user definition can either be an

array of individual permissions, as carried by the protocol, or one of

the following strings:



 - `op`, a group operator with all rights except administering the group;

 - `present`, an ordinary user with the right to publish audio and video

   streams and send chat messages;

 - `message`, a user with the right to send chat messages;

 - `observe`, a user that receives media streams and chat messages, but

   is not allowed to send them;

 - `caption`, a user with the right to display captions (only);

 - `admin`, a user with the right to administer the group (only).

   

Supported video codecs include:



 - `"vp8"` (compatible with all supported browsers);

 - `"vp9"` (better video quality, but incompatible with Safari; buggy in

   Firefox);

 - `"av1"` (even better video quality, only supported by some browsers,

   recording is not supported, SVC is not supported);

 - `"h264"` (incompatible with Debian and with some older Android devices,

 - SVC  is not supported).



Supported audio codecs include `"opus"`, `"g722"`, `"pcmu"` and `"pcma"`.

Only Opus can be recorded to disk.  There is no good reason to use

anything except Opus.



## Client Authorisation



Galene implements three authorisation methods: a simple username/password

authorisation scheme, a scheme using stateful tokens and a mechanism based

on cryptographic tokens that are generated by an external server.  The

former two mechanism are intended to be used in standalone installations,

while the server-based mechanism is designed to allow easy integration

with an existing authorisation infrastructure (such as LDAP, OAuth2, or

even Unix passwords).



### Password authorisation



When password authorisation is used, authorised usernames and password are

defined directly in the group configuration file, in the `users` and

`fallback-users` entries.  The `users` entry is a dictionary that maps

user names to user descriptions; the `fallback-users` is a list of user

descriptions that are used with usernames that don't appear in `users`.



Every user description is a dictionary with fields `password` and

`permissions`.  The `password` field may be a literal password string, or

a dictionary describing a hashed password or a wildcard.  The

`permissions` field should be one of `op`, `present`, `message` or

`observe`.  (An array of Galene's internal permissions is also allowed,

but this is not recommended, since internal permissions may vary from

version to version).



For example, the entry



    "users": {"jch": {"password": "1234", "permissions": "op"}}

    

specifies that user "jch" may login as operator with password "1234", while



    "fallback-users": [{"password": "1234", "permissions": "present"}]

    

allows any username with password *1234*.  Finally,



    "fallback-users": [

        {"password": {"type": "wildcard"}, "permissions": "present"}

    ]

    

allows any username with any password.



### Hashed passwords



If you don't wish to store cleartext passwords on the server, you may

generate hashed passwords with the `galenectl` utility.  A user entry with

a hashed password looks like this:



    "users": {

        "jch": {

            "password": {

                "type": "pbkdf2",

                "hash": "sha-256",

                "key": "f591c35604e6aef572851d9c3543c812566b032b6dc083c81edd15cc24449913",

                "salt": "92bff2ace56fe38f",

                "iterations": 4096

            },

            "permissions": "op"

        }

    }



### Stateful tokens



Stateful tokens allow to temporarily grant access to a user.  In order to

generate a stateful token, the group administrator types



    /invite user period



where `user` is the username granted to the temporary user, and `period`

is the time period for which the token will be valid (for example `2d`

meaning 2 days).  The server replies with a link, valid the given time

period, that may be sent to the temporary user for example by e-mail.



Tokens may also be granted without imposing a specific username:



    /invite '' 2d



Stateful tokens are revokable (use the `/revoke` command) and their

lifetime may be extended (use the `/reinvite` command).



### Authorisation servers



Galene is able to delegate authorisation decisions to an external

authorisation server.  This makes it possible to integrate Galene with an

existing authentication and authorisation infrastructure, such as LDAP,

OAuth2 or even Unix passwords.



When an authorisation server is used, the group configuration file

specifies one or more public keys in JWK format (with the restriction that

the "alg" key must be specified).  In addition, it may specify either an

authorisation server or an authorisation portal.



    {

        "authKeys": [{

            "kty": "oct",

            "alg": "HS256",

            "k": "MYz3IfCq4Yq-UmPdNqWEOdPl4C_m9imHHs9uveDUJGQ",

        }, {

            "kty": "EC",

            "alg": "ES256",

            "crv": "P-256",

            "x": "dElK9qBNyCpRXdvJsn4GdjrFzScSzpkz_I0JhKbYC88",

            "y": "pBhVb37haKvwEoleoW3qxnT4y5bK35_RTP7_RmFKR6Q",

        }]

        "authServer": "https://auth.example.org",

    }



If multiple keys are provided, then they will all be tried in turn, unless

the token includes the "kid" header field, in which case only the

specified key will be used.



If an authorisation server is specified, then the default client, after it

prompts for a password, will request a token from the authorisation server

and will join the group using token authentication.  The password is never

communicated to the server.



If an authorisation portal is specified, then the default client will

redirect initial client connections to the authorisation portal.  The

authorisation portal is expected to authorise the client and then redirect

it to Galene with the `username` and `token` query parameters set.



# Further information



Galène's web page is at .



Answers to common questions and issues are at .



-- Juliusz Chroboczek