Request for Socks5 Proxy Functionality

[claude-elwood-shannon]

As a user of the EPIC Node (Server), I am requesting to add Socks5 proxy functionality to it. This feature would allow anyone who use it to communicate with other peers while preserving our IP addresses private, providing an additional layer of security and control over our financial transactions.

Key Requirements

• Support for the Socks5 protocol
• Configuration options for proxy settings, including server address and port number
• Robust error handling and connection management and authentication credentials.

I believe this feature would be a valuable addition to our EPIC Node (Server) and enable all users to better meet their needs.

I'm looking forward to your consideration of this request.

[who-biz]

Networking is not one of my stronger areas.

In concept, I agree this is a good addition.

But I'm curious how this differs from running a socks5 proxy locally (I.e. via operating system networking tools).

Can you elaborate on a situation where adding it into server code (and configuration files) would be superior, compared to using existing networking tools?

[claude-elwood-shannon]

Thank you for considering my request.

I understand your concerns about why I'm proposing to integrate Socks5 proxy functionality within the EPIC Node (Server) instead of using operating system networking tools.

I've tried using torify and tsocks with the server in the past, but they didn't work as expected.

In particular, when trying to use torify, I encountered the following error: ERROR torsocks[172303]: General SOCKS server failure (in socks5_recv_connect_reply() at socks5.c:527)

On the other hand, when trying to use tsocks, I got the following error: libtsocks(184757): SOCKS V5 connect failed: 23:42:14 libtsocks(184757): Connection refused

I have tested the same scenario with other commands like wget with success.

I believe integrating Socks5 proxy functionality within the EPIC Node (Server) as curl do (curl --socks5-hostname ) would provide a more seamless way to conceal real public IP addresses between Epic nodes.

[who-biz]

Thanks for being thorough and concise. Definitely interested in adding this, then

[claude-elwood-shannon]

Dear who-biz,

Thanks for prioritizing my proposal to add Socks5 proxy functionality to the Epic Server (Node). I'm excited to move forward with this feature!

Our goal could be to enable Epic Server (Node) to establish connections using Socks5, whether they're on the clear or on the Tor-protected nets. To achieve this, we can explore two possible approaches:

• Integrating Socks5 client capabilities by reviewing existing libraries (e.g., https://github.com/ark0f/async-socks5) and adapting them for use within the Epic Server (Node).
• Building on the Arti project's Tor client implementation in Rust, which currently allows connections to the Tor network (https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/arti/-/blob/main/README.md). By leveraging this work, we can analyze the steps needed to integrate Socks5 connections that communicate through the Tor network.

Thank you again for your support!