SOCKSify Ruby

What is it?

SOCKSify Ruby redirects any TCP connection initiated by a Ruby script through a SOCKS5 proxy. It serves as a small drop-in alternative to tsocks, except that it handles Ruby programs only and doesn't leak DNS queries.

How does it work?

require 'socksify/http'

This adds a new class method Net::HTTP.socks_proxy which takes the host and port address of a socks proxy. Once set, all requests will be routed via socks. This is acheived by patching a private method in Net::HTTP, as sadly Ruby no longer has native socks proxy support out of the box.

Additionally, Socksify.resolve can be used to resolve hostnames to IPv4 addresses via SOCKS.

Installation

$ gem install socksify

Usage

Redirect all TCP connections of a Ruby program

Run a Ruby script with redirected TCP through a local Tor anonymizer:

$ socksify_ruby localhost 9050 script.rb

Explicit SOCKS usage in a Ruby program (Deprecated in Ruby 3.1 onwards)

Set up SOCKS connections for a local Tor anonymizer, TCPSockets can be used as usual:

require 'socksify'

TCPSocket.socks_server = "127.0.0.1"
TCPSocket.socks_port = 9050
rubyforge_www = TCPSocket.new("rubyforge.org", 80)
# => #<TCPSocket:0x...>

Use Net::HTTP explicitly via SOCKS

Require the additional library socksify/http and use the Net::HTTP.socks_proxy method. It is similar to Net::HTTP.Proxy from the Ruby standard library:

require 'socksify/http'

uri = URI.parse('http://ipecho.net/plain')
Net::HTTP.socks_proxy('127.0.0.1', 9050).start(uri.host, uri.port) do |http|
  req = Net::HTTP::Get.new uri
  resp = http.request(req)
  puts resp.inspect
  puts resp.body
end
# => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>
# => <A tor exit node ip address>

Note that Net::HTTP.socks_proxy never relies on TCPSocket.socks_server/socks_port. You should either set socks_proxy arguments explicitly or use Net::HTTP directly.

Resolve addresses via SOCKS

Socksify.resolve("spaceboyz.net")
# => "87.106.131.203"

Testing and Debugging

A tor proxy is required before running the tests. Install tor from your usual package manager, check it is running with pidof tor then run the tests with:

bundle exec rake

Colorful diagnostic messages are enabled by default via:

Socksify::debug = true`

Development

The repository can be checked out with:

$ git-clone git@github.com:astro/socksify-ruby.git

Send patches via pull requests.

Further ideas

Resolv replacement code, so that programs which resolve by themselves don't leak DNS queries
IPv6 address support
UDP as soon as Tor supports it
Perhaps using standard exceptions for better compatibility when acting as a drop-in?

Author

Stephan Maka

License

SOCKSify Ruby is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 (see file COPYING) or the Ruby License (see file LICENSE) at your option.

astro / socksify-ruby

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