Localshare - Local file sharing application

Small graphical application to send a file to a local peer. Peers on the local network are automatically discovered using Zeroconf mDNS service discovery. Distant peers can be manually added by filling ip and port (but performing a transfer requires an open firewall on the destination).

A command line interface is also availablei (see localshare --help), and should work without requiring any graphical stack support. The project can also be compiled with only the command line interface (see localshare.pro), reducing dependencies and executable size.

Setup

Compilation:

qmake
make

Requires Qt >= 5.2, Bonjour support (see below) and c++11 compiler support. Details about dependencies can be found in the build/*/requirement.sh files.

Binaries can be found in the release section. They are mostly standalone:

• Icons are included for each platform.
• Linux: uses the local Qt5 and Avahi Zeroconf libraries.
• Mac OSX: assumes a homebrew install of Qt5 (Bonjour support is native).
• Windows: shipped with a statically linked Qt5, requires a working mDNSResponder install.

Localshare may store some settings at user level (storage depends on the system, see the QtCore/QSettings documentation).

Zeroconf mDNS support

This application uses Zeroconf to find its peers on the local network. More precisely, it uses the Bonjour API to implement mDNS Service Discovery. Zeroconf support depends on the system:

• Linux:
  • Support through Avahi daemon and libraries.
  • Bonjour API compatibility layer must be installed (avahi-compat-libdns_sd).
  • The Avahi daemon must be running for discovery to work.
  • Avahi should be configured to resolve .local hostnames (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/avahi#Hostname_resolution).
• Mac:
  • Bonjour is natively supported; no specific setup required.
• Windows:
  • Support through Bonjour Windows Service (mDNSResponder, provided by Apple).
  • mDNSResponder API library is statically compiled (see build/windows/requirement.sh and localshare.pro).
  • The mDNSResponder.exe service must be running for discovery to work.
  • I do not want to go through the complex Apple « Windows Bundling Agreement », so I cannot distribute an installer of mDNSResponder. Some popular applications will install a copy of mDNSResponder (iTunes, Skype), so you might not need to install anything in this case (check for a "mDNSResponder.exe" service). If it is not the case, you can always try to find an installer on the web, or get it by registering as an Apple Developer and downloading the Bonjour SDK.

Status

Done:

• local network discovery
  • show errors to user
  • ability to restart on failure and change username
• settings
• gui interface:
  • peer list:
    • automatically filled by discovery
    • supports manual peers (added by ip/port)
  • transfers:
    • can manage multiple transfers
• console interface:
  • single upload/download
  • list peers
• transfer protocol:
  • used by both cli and gui
  • use chunks and file mapping for perf
  • can send directories or simple files
  • transfers are only shown when enough details has been gathered (file list)

Todo:

• Ip resolving (gui, mostly):
  • caching is bad (hostname ip can change...):
    • need to support both manual (by ip) and auto (by hostname) peers at the same time.
    • auto: ip is just indication, and is recomputed at every transfer ?
• CLI:
  • piping files ?
• protocol / gui / cli: support restarts ?
• directories:
  • better file listing for large dirs (step in gui)
  • see content before sending (uncheck stuff to not send it)
  • see content before downloading (and uncheck stuff too ?)
• get attention if minimized (modified icon / OS specific way)
• distant peers:
  • upnp firewall opening for distant peers ? (dangerous)
  • hardening of protocol ? (local link is easier to trust)
  • use authentification with ssl ? (QSslSocket)

String status (if you want to translate):

• All messages that the user can read use tr().
• Messages that go to qWarning/qDebug are untranslated.
• Internal strings:
  • Left raw if used in a context that doesn't need a QString
  • Small formats strings: use QStringLiteral
  • Left raw if perf is not needed (one time use)

License

Localshare - Small file sharing application for the local network.
Copyright (C) 2016 Francois Gindraud

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

Icons from picol under the Creative Commons-License BY.