Adding Friends - Unofficial RetroShare Wiki

NOTE: the first one is better.
NOTE: once you have given your key on the web page and added the chat server’s key as a friend, go to the chat lobbies tab and double-click on “Chatserver EN”.
NOTE: it takes a few seconds before the chat lobbies list appears, and also before the chat lobbies participants list appears.
NOTE: to give your key in a lobby, right-click in the text entry box and choose “Paste my certificate”. Please do not paste your plain text key!
NOTE: you’ll be talking to real people. Say hello, chat, and THEN ask to exchange keys.

Maybe on reddit? http://www.reddit.com/r/retroshare

How do I add friends in RetroShare?

To become “friend” with someone, you must give them your key, and they must give you theirs. If only one person gets the key of the other one, they will not connect.

How can I give my key in RetroShare’s chat and forums?

Right-click in the text entry box and select “Paste my certificate”. If you can’t find this menu entry, then you need to update to the latest version of RetroShare.

How can I add a friend from RetroShare’s chat or forums?

Simply click on the “RetroShare Certificate…” link that your (future) friend has given you, and validate. Do not sign the key if you don’t know the person you’re adding.

NOTE: in version 0.5.4d there will be a popup saying something about illegal characters; just ignore it.

Do I have to give my key publicly in the chat?

Yes, unless you have a common friend with the person you want to add, and that friend can forward your keys in private. It is impossible to send a private message to someone you’re not friends with.

How do I post my key into a web forum or an email?

Click on the grey cog in the toolbar.
Click on “Security”.
Click on “Copy Key”.

Then you can paste it wherever you want.

How do I add a friend from his plain-text key?

NOTE : Do not sign certificates before reading this answer .

Click on the blue guy with a green “+” icon.
Click “Next”.
Paste the key in the bottom area.
Click “Next” again.
Confirm.

Make sure that the person you got the key from also gets your key.

Should I sign or authenticate a friend when I add her key?

In general, no, for several reasons:

RetroShare does not need or use key signatures.
Authenticating someone (or signing their key) means that you're sure it's their certificate and not someone else's, which you can most often not be sure of when you add random friends from the internets.
It is an irrevocable operation, it cannot be undone! (PGP keys signatures can be revoked, but RetroShare doesn't care.)

I use Chrome and I get an invalid certificate error when I paste a key I got from the web.

Either use another browser, or paste the key into a text editor, copy it again, and then it should be accepted.

I see my IP address in my certificate! This isn't anonymous!

The IP address is there to help your friends connect to your computer. Posting your IP address isn't a real anonymity threat, it only tells others that you are planning to use RetroShare. They might find which your ISP is and in which country you live.

If you're really concerned about this, there are alternatives:

Avoid posting your certificate in public spaces.
Remove its last line where the IP is written. But do not remove the line with the "LOCATION", it is required! Also, you'll have to make sure DHT is on and working, or use DynDNS. Note that your IP can be gotten back with the DHT or DynDNS anyway…
Something that's been done is to use http://cryptobin.org to post your certificate. This way only people who got the password from somewhere else can read it, and you can set the post to be deleted after some time.

Are there any guidelines for choosing friends?

Add friends that are online at the same time as you. If you're running RetroShare at night and your friend only during the day, you'll never connect.
Get friends with whom you share interests, so as to get/give access to interesting forums, channels, chat lobbies and files.
Currently (RetroShare 0.5.4e), your friends can see which files you are downloading as long as they are themselves sharing those files publicly. As a consequence, you have to trust them not to exploit this information maliciously.

How many friends should I add?

Theorically one friend could be enough if he or she has everything you want and a fast internet connection! But it’s rarely the case, so we recommend at least 10 to 20 online friends (their icons should be blue or orange.)

There is no maximum number of friends, but consider these points:

if you have 100 friends for an upload speed limit of 50kB/s, that’s only 0.5kB/s per friend! Is that enough for decent file transfers? Having too many friends could lead to disconnections in past versions of RetroShare.
each friend will send you their cache files (the channels and forums to which they are subscribed), which can amount to several GB for 50 friends, and slow down “real” file transfers for a while.
will you remember who is who and be able to trust everyone if you add 100 unknown people as friends? :-)

page revision: 30, last edited: 19 May 2013 21:37

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