NAME
tincd — tinc VPN daemon
SYNOPSIS
tincd [-cdDkKnoLRU] [--config=DIR] [--no-detach] [--debug[=LEVEL]] [--kill[=SIGNAL]] [--net=NETNAME]
[--generate-keys[=BITS]] [--option=[HOST.]KEY=VALUE] [--mlock] [--logfile[=FILE]] [--pidfile=FILE]
[--bypass-security] [--chroot] [--user=USER] [--help] [--version]
DESCRIPTION
This is the daemon of tinc, a secure virtual private network (VPN) project. When started, tincd will read
it's configuration file to determine what virtual subnets it has to serve and to what other tinc daemons it
should connect. It will connect to the tun/tap device and set up a socket for incoming connections. Op‐
tionally a script will be executed to further configure the virtual device. If that succeeds, it will de‐
tach from the controlling terminal and continue in the background, accepting and setting up connections to
other tinc daemons that are part of the virtual private network. Under Windows (not Cygwin) tinc will in‐
stall itself as a service, which will be restarted automatically after reboots.
OPTIONS
-c, --config=DIR
Read configuration files from DIR instead of /usr/local/etc/tinc/.
-D, --no-detach
Don't fork and detach. This will also disable the automatic restart mechanism for fatal errors. If
not mentioned otherwise, this will show log messages on the standard error output.
-d, --debug[=LEVEL]
Increase debug level or set it to LEVEL (see below).
-k, --kill[=SIGNAL]
Attempt to kill a running tincd (optionally with the specified SIGNAL instead of SIGTERM) and exit.
Under Windows (not Cygwin) the optional argument is ignored, the service will always be stopped and
removed.
-n, --net=NETNAME
Connect to net NETNAME. This will let tinc read all configuration files from /usr/local/etc/tinc/
NETNAME. Specifying . for NETNAME is the same as not specifying any NETNAME.
-K, --generate-keys[=BITS]
Generate public/private RSA keypair and exit. If BITS is omitted, the default length will be 2048
bits. When saving keys to existing files, tinc will not delete the old keys, you have to remove
them manually.
-o, --option=[HOST.]KEY=VALUE
Without specifying a HOST, this will set server configuration variable KEY to VALUE. If specified
as HOST.KEY=VALUE, this will set the host configuration variable KEY of the host named HOST to
VALUE. This option can be used more than once to specify multiple configuration variables.
-L, --mlock
Lock tinc into main memory. This will prevent sensitive data like shared private keys to be written
to the system swap files/partitions.
--logfile[=FILE]
Write log entries to a file instead of to the system logging facility. If FILE is omitted, the de‐
fault is /usr/local/var/log/tinc.NETNAME.log.
--pidfile=FILE
Write PID to FILE instead of /usr/local/var/run/tinc.NETNAME.pid. Under Windows this option will be
ignored.
--bypass-security
Disables encryption and authentication of the meta protocol. Only useful for debugging.
-R, --chroot
With this option tinc chroots into the directory where network config is located (/usr/lo‐
cal/etc/tinc/NETNAME if -n option is used, or to the directory specified with -c option) after ini‐
tialization.
-U, --user=USER
setuid to the specified USER after initialization.
--help Display short list of options.
--version
Output version information and exit.
SIGNALS
ALRM Forces tincd to try to connect to all uplinks immediately. Usually tincd attempts to do this it‐
self, but increases the time it waits between the attempts each time it failed, and if tincd didn't
succeed to connect to an uplink the first time after it started, it defaults to the maximum time of
15 minutes.
HUP Partially rereads configuration files. Connections to hosts whose host config file are removed are
closed. New outgoing connections specified in tinc.conf will be made. If the --logfile option is
used, this will also close and reopen the log file, useful when log rotation is used.
INT Temporarily increases debug level to 5. Send this signal again to revert to the original level.
USR1 Dumps the connection list to syslog.
USR2 Dumps virtual network device statistics, all known nodes, edges and subnets to syslog.
WINCH Purges all information remembered about unreachable nodes.
The tinc daemon can send a lot of messages to the syslog. The higher the debug level, the more messages it
will log. Each level inherits all messages of the previous level:
0 This will log a message indicating tincd has started along with a version number. It will also log
any serious error.
1 This will log all connections that are made with other tinc daemons.
2 This will log status and error messages from scripts and other tinc daemons.
3 This will log all requests that are exchanged with other tinc daemons. These include authentication,
key exchange and connection list updates.
4 This will log a copy of everything received on the meta socket.
5 This will log all network traffic over the virtual private network.
FILES
/usr/local/etc/tinc/
Directory containing the configuration files tinc uses. For more information, see tinc.conf(5).
/usr/local/var/run/tinc.NETNAME.pid
The PID of the currently running tincd is stored in this file.
BUGS
The BindToInterface option may not work correctly.
The cryptography in tinc is not well tested yet. Use it at your own risk!
If you find any bugs, report them to tinc@tinc-vpn.org.
TODO
A lot, especially security auditing.
tinc.conf(5), https://www.tinc-vpn.org/, http://www.cabal.org/.
The full documentation for tinc is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and tinc programs are prop‐
erly installed at your site, the command info tinc should give you access to the complete manual.
tinc comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under
certain conditions; see the file COPYING for details.
AUTHORS
Ivo Timmermans
Guus Sliepen <guus@tinc-vpn.org>
And thanks to many others for their contributions to tinc!
2014-05-11 TINCD(8)