ffsend [WIP]
Easily and securely share files from the command line. A fully featured Firefox Send client.
Easily and securely share files and directories from the command line through a safe, private and encrypted link using a single simple command. Files are shared using the Send service and may be up to 2GB. Others are able to download these files with this tool, or through their web browser.
No demo visible here? View it on asciinema.
All files are always encrypted on the client, and secrets are never shared with the remote host. An optional password may be specified, and a default file lifetime of 1 (up to 20) download or 24 hours is enforced to ensure your stuff does not remain online forever. This provides a secure platform to share your files. Find out more about security here.
- Features
- Usage
- Requirements
- Install
- Build
- Configuration and environment
- Security
- Help
- Special thanks
- License
The public Send service that is used as default host is provided by
Mozilla.
This application is not affiliated with Mozilla, Firefox
or Firefox Send in any way.
Note: this tool is currently in alpha
Features
- Fully featured and friendly command line tool
- Upload and download files and directories securely
- Always encrypted on the client
- Additional password protection, generation and configurable download limits
- Supports old and new Firefox Send server versions
- File and directory archiving and extraction
- History tracking your files for easy management
- Ability to use custom Send hosts
- Inspect or delete shared files
- Accurate error reporting
- Streaming encryption and uploading/downloading, very low memory footprint
- Intended for use in scripts without interaction
For a list of upcoming features and ideas, take a look at the ROADMAP file.
Usage
Easily upload and download:
# Simple upload
# Advanced upload
# - Specify a download limit of 20
# - Enter a password to encrypt the file
# - Archive the file before uploading
# - Copy the shareable link to your clipboard
# - Open the shareable link in your browser
# Upload to your own host
# Simple download
Inspect remote files:
# Check if a file exists
# Fetch remote file info
)
Other commands include:
# View your file history
# LINK EXPIRY OWNER TOKEN
# Change the password after uploading
# Delete a file
Use the --help flag, help subcommand, or see the help section for
all available subcommands.
Requirements
- Linux, Windows or macOS
- A terminal :sunglasses:
- Internet connection for uploading and downloading
- Linux specific:
- OpenSSL & CA certificates:
- Ubuntu/Debian:
apt install openssl ca-certificates
- Ubuntu/Debian:
- Optional:
xclipfor clipboard support- Ubuntu/Debian:
apt install xclip - CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora:
yum install xclip - Arch:
pacman -S xclip
- Ubuntu/Debian:
- OpenSSL & CA certificates:
- Windows specific:
- OpenSSL v1.1.0j: » Installer
- macOS specific:
- OpenSSL:
brew install openssl
- OpenSSL:
Install
Because ffsend is still in alpha, only limited installation options are
available right now.
It is recommended to build and install ffsend yourself using these fairly
easy steps below.
Snap package
Arch AUR package
» ffsend (binary package)
» ffsend-git (compile from source package)
# or
# or
# or using any other AUR installer
Prebuilt binaries
A set of prebuilt binaries for Linux and Windows can be found as asset of the latest release.
On Linux, you must mark the binary as executable. And you may want to move it
into /usr/bin/ to make the ffsend command globally available:
# Mark binary as executable
# Move binary into path, to make it easily usable
If running the binary fails (probably due to some missing dependency), feel free to open an issue.
Build
To build and install ffsend yourself, you meet the following requirements
before proceeding:
Build requirements
- Regular requirements
gitrustv1.32or higher (install usingrustup)- OpenSSL or LibreSSL libraries and headers must be available
- Linux:
- Ubuntu/Debian:
apt install build-essential cmake pkg-config libssl-dev - CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE:
yum install gcc gcc-c++ make cmake openssl-devel - Arch:
pacman -S openssl base-devel
- Ubuntu/Debian:
- Gentoo:
emerge -a dev-util/pkgconfig dev-util/cmake dev-libs/openssl- Fedora:
dnf install gcc gcc-c++ make cmake openssl-devel - Or see instructions here
- Fedora:
- Windows:
- See instructions here here
- macOS:
- Using
brew:brew install cmake pkg-config openssl - Or see instructions here
- Using
- Linux:
Compile and install
Then, walk through one of the following steps to compile and install ffsend:
-
Compile and install it directly from cargo:
# Compile and install from cargo # Start using ffsend -
Or clone the repository and install it with
cargo:# Clone the project # Compile and install # Start using ffsend # or run it directly from cargo -
Or clone the repository and invoke the binary directly (Linux/macOS):
# Clone the project # Build the project (release version) # Start using ffsend
Compile features / use flags
Different use flags are available for ffsend to toggle whether to include
various features.
The following features are available, some of which are enabled by default:
| Feature | Enabled | Description |
|---|---|---|
send2 |
Default | Support for Firefox Send v2 servers |
send3 |
Default | Support for Firefox Send v3 servers |
clipboard |
Default | Support for copying links to the clipboard |
history |
Default | Support for tracking files in history |
archive |
Default | Support for archiving and extracting uploads and downloads |
no-color |
Compile without color support in error and help messages |
To enable features during building or installation, specify them with
--features <features...> when using cargo.
You may want to disable default features first using
--no-default-features.
Here are some examples:
# Defaults set of features with no-color, one of
# None of the features
# Only history and clipboard support
For Windows systems it is recommended to provide the no-color flag, as color
support in Windows terminals is flaky.
Configuration and environment
The following environment variables may be used to configure the following defaults. The CLI flag is shown along with it, to better describe the relation to command line arguments:
| Variable | CLI flag | Description |
|---|---|---|
FFSEND_HISTORY |
--history <FILE> |
History file path |
FFSEND_HOST |
--host <URL> |
Upload host |
FFSEND_TIMEOUT |
--timeout <SECONDS> |
Request timeout (0 to disable) |
FFSEND_TRANSFER_TIMEOUT |
--transfer-timeout <SECONDS> |
Transfer timeout (0 to disable) |
FFSEND_API |
--api <VERSION> |
Server API version, - to lookup |
These environment variables may be used to toggle a flag, simply by making them available. The actual value of these variables is ignored, and variables may be empty.
| Variable | CLI flag | Description |
|---|---|---|
FFSEND_FORCE |
--force |
Force operations |
FFSEND_NO_INTERACT |
--no-interact |
No interaction for prompts |
FFSEND_YES |
--yes |
Assume yes for prompts |
FFSEND_INCOGNITO |
--incognito |
Incognito mode, don't use history |
FFSEND_OPEN |
--open |
Open share link of uploaded file |
FFSEND_ARCHIVE |
--archive |
Archive files uploaded |
FFSEND_EXTRACT |
--extract |
Extract files downloaded |
FFSEND_COPY |
--copy |
Copy share link to clipboard |
FFSEND_COPY_CMD |
--copy-cmd |
Copy download command to clipboard |
FFSEND_QUIET |
--quiet |
Log quiet information |
FFSEND_VERBOSE |
--verbose |
Log verbose information |
At this time, no configuration or dotfile file support is available. This will be something added in a later release.
Security
In short; the ffsend tool and the Send service can be considered
secure, and may be used to share sensitive files. Note though that the
created share link for an upload will allow anyone to download the file.
Make sure you don't share this link with unauthorized people.
For more detailed information on encryption, please read the rest of the paragraphs in this security section.
Note: even though the encryption method is considered secure, this ffsend
tool does not provide any warranty in any way, shape or form for files that
somehow got decrypted without proper authorization.
Client side encryption
ffsend uses client side encryption, to ensure your files are securely
encrypted before they are uploaded to the remote host. This makes it impossible
for third parties to decrypt your file without having the secret (encryption
key). The file and it's metadata are encrypted using 128-bit AES-GCM, and a
HMAC SHA-256 signing key is used for request authentication.
This is consistent with the encryption documentation provided by the
Send service, ffsend is a tool for.
A detailed list on the encryption/decryption steps, and on what encryption is exactly used can be found here in the official service documentation.
Note on share link security
The encryption secret, that is used to decrypt the file when downloading,
is included in the share URL behind the # (hash). This secret is never sent
the remote server directly when using the share link in your browser.
It would be possible however for a webpage to load some malicious JavaScript
snippet that eventually steals the secret from the link once the page is loaded.
Although this scenario is extremely unlikely, there are some options to prevent
this from happening:
- Only use this
ffsendtool, do not use the share link in your browser. - Add additional protection by specifying a password using
--passwordwhile uploading, or using thepasswordsubcommand afterwards. - Host a secure Send service instance yourself.
A complete overview on encryption can be found in the official service documentation here.
Help
$ ffsend help
ffsend 0.2.24
Tim Visee <timvisee.com>
Easily and securely share files from the command line.
A fully featured Firefox Send client.
USAGE:
ffsend [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [SUBCOMMAND]
FLAGS:
-f, --force Force the action, ignore warnings
-h, --help Prints help information
-i, --incognito Don't update local history for actions
-I, --no-interact Not interactive, do not prompt
-q, --quiet Produce output suitable for logging and automation
-V, --version Prints version information
-v, --verbose Enable verbose information and logging
-y, --yes Assume yes for prompts
OPTIONS:
-H, --history <FILE> Use the specified history file [env: FFSEND_HISTORY]
-t, --timeout <SECONDS> Request timeout (0 to disable) [env: FFSEND_TIMEOUT]
-T, --transfer-timeout <SECONDS> Transfer timeout (0 to disable) [env: FFSEND_TRANSFER_TIMEOUT]
SUBCOMMANDS:
upload Upload files [aliases: u, up]
download Download files [aliases: d, down]
debug View debug information [aliases: dbg]
delete Delete a shared file [aliases: del]
exists Check whether a remote file exists [aliases: e]
help Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
history View file history [aliases: h]
info Fetch info about a shared file [aliases: i]
parameters Change parameters of a shared file [aliases: params]
password Change the password of a shared file [aliases: pass, p]
version Determine the Send server version [aliases: v]
The public Send service that is used as default host is provided by Mozilla.
This application is not affiliated with Mozilla, Firefox or Firefox Send.
Special thanks
- to Mozilla for building and hosting the amazing Firefox Send service
- to everyone involved with asciinema and svg-term for providing tools to make great visual demos
- to everyone involved in all crate dependencies used
License
This project is released under the GNU GPL-3.0 license. Check out the LICENSE file for more information.