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Setting up Misfin (by @cipres)

User @satch on BBS[1] created a front-end called Skylab[2] to the gemini-based misfin[3] mail protocol/service. If you're unfamiliar with misfin, it's e-mail for Gemini. So I decided to try it out.

[1] Skylab Announcement on BBS

[2] Skylab homepage

[3] Misfin homepage

Basic Concept: front-end / server

So my first stumbling block was that I thought Skylab included the misfin server since it pulled from @clseibold's misfin git repo, but I was mistaken. Luckily @satch was graceful enough to help me out via regular email over the course of about a week, when I had time between kids and work and other distractions.

So the first step is to get a server installed and running. I picked cipres' fork[1] of the main misfin server

[1] Misfin server (fork by @cipres)

Step 1: install misfin

Stumbling block: I tried to install @cipres' misfin server from source (git clone, etc.) by following the instructions, but it seems to only work with Python 3.9. Seeing that I had Python 3.11 installed, it didn't like the way some of the imports were used. I initially tried installing Python 3.9 and setting up a virtual environment but this proved to be a lot of work. Luckily there's an AppImage.

Official Misfin Documentation on @cipres' Gitlab

$ wget https://gitlab.com/cipres/misfin/-/releases/continuous-master/downloads/misfin-latest-x86_64.AppImage
$ mv misfin-latest-x84_64.AppImage misfin
$ chmod +x misfin
$ mv misfin ~/.local/bin/

Explanation:

Download the AppImage
rename it to 'misfin' for ease-of-use
make it executable
mv it to a directory that's in your PATH

Step 2: Initialize the server

You can run cipres' misfin server as a single user but I don't think Skylab works that way. Setting up the full server is the best way.

Step 2a: Create a directory for the server

$ mkdir -p ~/misfin/<your domain>

Explanation:

-p creates the parent directory if it doesn't already exist
<your domain> HAS to be the domain you want to receive mail on. Mine, for instance, is "gemini.smallweb.space"

Step 2b: Initialize via 'server-init'

Usage: misfin server-init [OPTIONS] SRVDIR HOSTNAME

$ misfin server-init ~/misfin/<your domain> <your domain>

Step 2c: Check that files were created

$ ls ~/misfin/<your domain>
gemboxes  identities  misfind.toml  server.pem

Step 3: Test out the server

Cipres' misfin server comes with a default front-end that is accessible via port 1958 of <your domain>

Step 3a: run the server

$ misfin serve ~/misfin/<your domain>

You can also run it as a daemon with the -d option, but we'll be using systemd for this, so it's unnecessary if you have systemd available.

Step 3b: Test the default interface

Navigate to:

gemini://<your domain>:1958

And you should see a page that says you're not recognized. Next we'll add a user.

Step 4: Add user via front-end

Simply follow the on-screen instructions to add a user

Lagrange makes it easy by detecting the cert that's generated on the page

Step 5: Send a test mail

If you don't have someone to test with, you can create another user at hashnix.club:

Hashnix Misfin server

Step 6: Add to systemd

Kill your current misfin process if it's running still

$ cd /etc/systemd/system
$ sudo touch misfin.service
$ sudo vim misfin.service

then add something like this:

[Unit]
Description=Misfin server by cipres
After=network.target

[Service]
User=gemini
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/home/gemini/misfin
ExecStart=/home/gemini/.local/bin/misfin serve /home/gemini/misfin/gemini.smallweb.space
Restart=always
Environment="PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1"
StandardOutput=syslog
StandardError=syslog
SyslogIdentifier=misfin

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Let's enable, and start our new service:

$ sudo systemctl enable misfin
$ sudo systemctl module-reload
$ sudo systemctl start misfin

And if all goes well, then we can check the status with journalctl:

$ journalctl -f -u misfin
Feb 09 18:03:05 smallweb-space misfin[70670]: INFO:pyrate_limiter:(sync)leaking bucket: <pyrate_limiter.buckets.in_memory_bucket.InMemoryBucket object at 0x7fdb5cf5c220>, 0 items
Feb 09 18:03:05 smallweb-space misfin[70670]: INFO:pyrate_limiter:(sync)leaking bucket: <pyrate_limiter.buckets.in_memory_bucket.InMemoryBucket object at 0x7fdb5cf5c730>, 0 items
Feb 09 18:05:05 smallweb-space misfin[70670]: INFO:pyrate_limiter:(sync)leaking bucket: <pyrate_limiter.buckets.in_memory_bucket.InMemoryBucket object at 0x7fdb5cf5c220>, 0 items
Feb 09 18:05:05 smallweb-space misfin[70670]: INFO:pyrate_limiter:(sync)leaking bucket: <pyrate_limiter.buckets.in_memory_bucket.InMemoryBucket object at 0x7fdb5cf5c730>, 0 items

Congrats! You now have a misfin server up and running.

Next up: getting an alternate front-end (possibly with more features), like skylab (gemlog is work-in-progress)

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2024-02-09

Tags: misfin, skylab

Gritty

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