Overview

This document specifies a .xpi2p file format (like the Firefox .xpi), but with a simple plugin.config description file instead of an XML install.rdf file. This file format is used for both initial plugin installs and plugin updates.

In addition, this document provides a brief overview of how the router installs plugins, and policies and guidelines for plugin developers.

The basic .xpi2p file format is the same as a i2pupdate.sud file (the format used for router updates), but the installer will let the user install the addon even if it doesn't know the signer's key yet.

As of release 0.9.15, the SU3 file format [UPDATES] is supported and is preferred. This format enables stronger signing keys.

We do not recommend distributing plugins in the xpi2p format any more. Use the su3 format.

The standard directory structure will let users install the following types of addons:

• console webapps
• new eepsite with cgi-bin, webapps
• console themes
• console translations
• Java programs
• Java programs in a separate JVM
• Any shell script or program

A plugin installs all its files in ~/.i2p/plugins/name/ (%APPDIR%I2Ppluginsnameon Windows). The installer will prevent installation anywhere else, although the plugin can access libraries elsewhere when running.

This should be viewed only as a way to make installation, uninstallation, and upgrading easier, and to lessen basic inter-plugin conflicts.

There is essentially no security model once the plugin is running, however. The plugin runs in the same JVM and with the same permissions as the router, and has full access to the file system, the router, executing external programs, etc.

Details

foo.xpi2p is a signed update (sud) file [UPDATES] containing the following:

Standard .sud header prepended to the zip file, containing the following:

40-byte DSA signature [CRYPTO-DSA]_
16-byte plugin version in UTF-8, padded with trailing zeroes if necessary

Zip file containing the following:

Plugin installer tasks

This lists what happens when a plugin is installed by I2P.

• The .xpi2p file is downloaded.
• The .sud signature is verified against stored keys. As of release 0.9.14.1, if there is no matching key, the installation fails, unless an advanced router property is set to allow all keys.
• Verify the integrity of the zip file.
• Extract the plugin.config file.
• Verify the I2P version, to make sure the plugin will work.
• Check that webapps don't duplicate the existing $I2P applications.
• Stop the existing plugin (if present).
• Verify that the install directory does not exist yet if update=false, or ask to overwrite.
• Verify that the install directory does exist if update=true, or ask to create.
• Unzip the plugin in to appDir/plugins/name/
• Add the plugin to plugins.config

Plugin starter tasks

This lists what happens when plugins are started. First, plugins.config is checked to see which plugins need to be started. For each plugin:

• Check clients.config, and load and start each item (add the configured jars to the classpath).
• Check console/webapp and console/webapp.config. Load and start required items (add the configured jars to the classpath).
• Add console/locale/foo.jar to the translation classpath if present.
• Add console/theme to the theme search path if present.
• Add the summary bar link.

Console webapp notes

Console webapps with background tasks should implement a ServletContextListener (see seedless or i2pbote for examples), or override destroy() in the servlet, so that they can be stopped. As of router version 0.7.12-3, console webapps will always be stopped before they are restarted, so you do not need to worry about multiple instances, as long as you do this. Also as of router version 0.7.12-3, console webapps will be stopped at router shutdown.

Don't bundle library jars in the webapp; put them in lib/ and put a classpath in webapps.config. Then you can make separate install and update plugins, where the update plugin does not contain the library jars.

Never bundle Jetty, Tomcat, or servlet jars in your plugin, as they may conflict with the version in the I2P installation. Take care not to bundle any conflicting libraries.

Don't include .java or .jsp files; otherwise Jetty will recompile them at installation, which will increase the startup time. While most I2P installations will have a working Java and JSP compiler in the classpath, this is not guaranteed, and may not work in all cases.

For now, a webapp needing to add classpath files in $PLUGIN must be the same name as the plugin. For example, a webapp in plugin foo must be named foo.war.

While I2P has supported Servlet 3.0 since I2P release 0.9.30, it does NOT support annotation scanning for @WebContent (no web.xml file). Several additional runtime jars would be required, and we do not provide those in a standard installation. Contact the I2P developers if you need support for @WebContent.

Eepsite notes

It isn't clear how to have a plugin install to an existing eepsite. The router has no hook to the eepsite, and it may or may not be running, and there may be more than one. Better is to start your own Jetty instance and I2PTunnel instance, for a brand new eepsite.

It can instantiate a new I2PTunnel (somewhat like the i2ptunnel CLI does), but it won't appear in the i2ptunnel gui of course, that's a different instance. But that's ok. Then you can start and stop i2ptunnel and jetty together.

So don't count on the router to automatically merge this with some existing eepsite. It probably won't happen. Start a new I2PTunnel and Jetty from clients.config. The best examples of this are the zzzot and pebble plugins, available at zzz's plugins page [STATS-PLUGINS].

How to get path substitution into jetty.xml? See zzzot and pebble plugins for examples.

Client start/stop notes

As of release 0.9.4, the router supports "managed" plugin clients. Managed plugin clients are instantiated and started by the ClientAppManager. The ClientAppManager maintains a reference to the client and receives updates on the client's state. Managed plugin client are preferred, as it is much easier to implement state tracking and to start and stop a client. It also is much easier to avoid static references in the client code which could lead to excessive memory usage after a client is stopped. See the clients.config configuration file specification [CONFIG] for more information on writing a managed client.

For "unmanaged" plugin clients, The router has no way to monitor the state of clients started via clients.config. The plugin author should handle multiple start or stop calls gracefully, if at all possible, by keeping a static state table, or using PID files, etc. Avoid logging or exceptions on multiple starts or stops. This also goes for a stop call without a previous start. As of router version 0.7.12-3, plugins will be stopped at router shutdown, which means that all clients with stopargs in clients.config will be called, whether or not they were previously started.

Shell script and external program notes

To run shell scripts or other external programs, see [ZZZ-141].

To work on both Windows and Linux, write a small Java class that checks the OS type, then runs ShellCommand on either the .bat or a .sh file you provide. A generalized solution for this was added in I2P 1.7.0/0.9.53, the "ShellService" which performs state tracking for a single command and communicates with the ClientAppManager.

External programs won't be stopped when the router stops, and a second copy will fire up when the router starts. This can usually be mitigated using a ShellService to perform state tracking. If that is unsuitable to your use case, you could write a wrapper class or shell script that does the usual storage of the PID in a PID file, and check for it on start.

Other plugin guidelines

• See i2p.scripts monotone branch or any of the sample plugins on zzz's page for the makeplugin.sh shell script. This automates most of the tasks for key generation, plugin su3 file creation, and verification. You should incorporate this script into your plugin build process.
• Pack200 of jars and wars is strongly recommended for plugins, it generally shrinks plugins by 60-65%. See any of the sample plugins on zzz's page for an example. Pack200 unpacking is supported on routers 0.7.11-5 or higher, which is essentially all routers that support plugins at all.
• Plugins must not attempt to write anywhere in $I2P as it may be readonly, and that isn't good policy anyway.
• Plugins may write to $CONFIG but keeping files in $PLUGIN only is recommended. All files in $PLUGIN will be deleted at uninstall. Files elsewhere will not be deleted at uninstall unless the plugin does it explicitly with a client in clients.config run with uninstallargs. If the user may want to save data after uninstallation, the uninstallargs hook could ask.
• $CWD may be anywhere; do not assume it is in a particular place, do not attempt to read or write files relative to $CWD. For a ShellService, it is always the same as $PLUGIN.
• Java programs should find out where they are with the directory getters in I2PAppContext.
• Plugin directory is I2PAppContext.getGlobalContext().getAppDir().getAbsolutePath() + "/plugins/" + appname, or put a $PLUGIN argument in the args line in clients.config. There is no reliable way to find the i2p install or config or plugin directory without using the context API in i2p.jar.
• See [ZZZ-16] for info on generating signing keys and generating/verifying keys and sud files.
• See [ZZZ-1473] for info on generating signing keys and generating/verifying keys for su3 files.
• All config files must be UTF-8.
• To run in a separate JVM, use ShellCommand with java -cp foo:bar:baz my.main.class arg1 arg2 arg3. Of course, it will be a lot harder to stop the plugin then... But with some trickery with PID files it should be possible.
• As an alternative to stopargs in clients.config, a Java client may register a shutdown hook with I2PAppContext.addShutdownTask(). But this wouldn't shut down a plugin when upgrading, so stopargs is recommended. Also, set all created threads to daemon mode. This can also be enabled with a ShellService.
• Do not include classes duplicating those in the standard installation. Extend the classes if necessary.
• Beware of the different classpath definitions in wrapper.config between old and new installations - see classpath section below.
• Clients will reject duplicate keys with different keynames, and duplicate keynames with different keys, and different keys or keynames in upgrade packages. Safeguard your keys. Only generate them once.
• Do not modify the plugin.config file at runtime as it will be overwritten on upgrade. Use a different config file in the directory for storing runtime configuration.
• In general, plugins should not require access to $I2P/lib/router.jar. Do not access router classes, unless you are doing something special. The router may in the future implement a restricted classpath for plugins that prevents access to router classes.
• Since each version must be higher than the one before, you could enhance your build script to add a build number to the end of the version. This helps for testing. Most of zzz's plugins have that feature, check build.xml for an example.
• Plugins must never call System.exit().
• Please respect licenses by meeting license requirements for any software you bundle.
• The router sets the JVM time zone to UTC. If a plugin needs to know the user's actual time zone, it is stored by the router in the I2PAppContext property i2p.systemTimeZone.

Classpaths

The following jars in $I2P/lib can be assumed to be in the standard classpath for all I2P installations, no matter how old or how new the original installation.

All recent public APIs in i2p jars have the since-release number specified in the Javadocs. For bundled jars, see the API guidelines below. If your plugin requires certain features only available in recent versions, be sure to set the properties min-i2p-version, min-jetty-version, or both, in the plugin.config file. This will give your users a clear error message on installation if the requirements are not met.

The following jars in $I2P/lib can be assumed to be present for all I2P installations, no matter how old or how new the original installation, but are not necessarily in the classpath:

Anything not listed above may not be present in everybody's classpath, even if you have it in the classpath in YOUR version of i2p. If you need any jar not listed above, add $I2P/lib/foo.jar to the classpath specified in clients.config or webapps.config in your plugin.

Previously, a classpath entry specified in clients.config was added to the classpath for the entire JVM. However, as of 0.7.13-3, this was fixed using class loaders, and now, as originally intended, the specified classpath in clients.config is only for the particular thread. See the section on JVM crashes below, and [ZZZ-633] for background. Therefore, specify the full required classpath for each client.

Java Version Notes

I2P has required Java 7 since release 0.9.24 (January 2016). I2P has required Java 6 since release 0.9.12 (April 2014). Any I2P users on the latest release should be running a 1.7 (7.0) JVM. In early 2016, unless you require 1.7 language or library features, you should create your plugin so it works on 1.6. Later in the year, most of the network will be on 0.9.24 or higher with Java 7.

If your plugin does not require 1.7:

• Ensure that all java and jsp files are compiled with source="1.6" target="1.6".
• Ensure that all bundled library jars are also for 1.6 or lower.

If your plugin requires 1.7:

• Note that on your download page.
• Add min-java-version=1.7 to your plugin.config

In any case, you must set a bootclasspath when compiling with Java 8 to prevent runtime crashes.

JVM Crashes When Updating

Note - this should all be fixed now.

The JVM has a tendency to crash when updating jars in a plugin if that plugin was running since I2P was started (even if the plugin was later stopped). This may have been fixed with the class loader implementation in 0.7.13-3, but it may not. For further testing.

The safest is to design your plugin with the jar inside the war (for a webapp), or to require a restart after update, or don't update the jars in your plugin.

Due to the way class loaders work inside a webapp, it _may_ be safe to have external jars if you specify the classpath in webapps.config. More testing is required to verify this. Don't specify the classpath with a 'fake' client in clients.config if it's only needed for a webapp - use webapps.config instead.

The least safe, and apparently the source of most crashes, is clients with plugin jars specified in the classpath in clients.config.

None of this should be a problem on initial install - you should not ever have to require a restart for an initial install of a plugin.

References