# signal-cli
-signal-cli is a commandline interface for [libsignal-service-java](https://github.com/WhisperSystems/libsignal-service-java). It supports registering, verifying, sending and receiving messages. To be able to receive messages signal-cli uses a [patched libsignal-service-java](https://github.com/AsamK/libsignal-service-java), because libsignal-service-java [does not yet support registering for the websocket support](https://github.com/WhisperSystems/libsignal-service-java/pull/5) nor [provisioning as a slave device](https://github.com/WhisperSystems/libsignal-service-java/pull/21). For registering you need a phone number where you can receive SMS or incoming calls.
-It is primarily intended to be used on servers to notify admins of important events. For this use-case, it has a dbus interface, that can be used to send messages from any programming language that has dbus bindings.
+signal-cli is a commandline interface for the [Signal messenger](https://signal.org/).
+It supports registering, verifying, sending and receiving messages.
+signal-cli uses a [patched libsignal-service-java](https://github.com/Turasa/libsignal-service-java),
+extracted from the [Signal-Android source code](https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/tree/main/libsignal/service).
+For registering you need a phone number where you can receive SMS or incoming calls.
+
+signal-cli is primarily intended to be used on servers to notify admins of important events. For this use-case, it has a daemon mode with D-BUS
+interface ([man page](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli-dbus.5.adoc)) and JSON-RPC interface ([documentation](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/JSON-RPC-service)).
+For the JSON-RPC interface there's also a simple [example client](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/tree/master/client), written in Rust.
## Installation
-You can [build signal-cli](#building) yourself, or use the [provided binary files](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases/latest), which should work on Linux, macOS and Windows. For Arch Linux there is also a [package in AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/signal-cli/). You need to have at least JRE 7 installed, to run signal-cli.
+You can [build signal-cli](#building) yourself or use
+the [provided binary files](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases/latest), which should work on Linux, macOS and
+Windows. There's also a [docker image and some Linux packages](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Binary-distributions) provided by the community.
+
+System requirements:
+
+- at least Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 17
+- native library: libsignal-client
+
+ The native libs are bundled for x86_64 Linux (with recent enough glibc), Windows and MacOS. For other
+ systems/architectures
+ see: [Provide native lib for libsignal](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Provide-native-lib-for-libsignal)
### Install system-wide on Linux
+
See [latest version](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases).
+
```sh
export VERSION=<latest version, format "x.y.z">
-wget https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases/download/v"${VERSION}"/signal-cli-"${VERSION}".tar.gz
-sudo tar xf signal-cli-"${VERSION}".tar.gz -C /opt
+wget https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/releases/download/v"${VERSION}"/signal-cli-"${VERSION}"-Linux.tar.gz
+sudo tar xf signal-cli-"${VERSION}"-Linux.tar.gz -C /opt
sudo ln -sf /opt/signal-cli-"${VERSION}"/bin/signal-cli /usr/local/bin/
```
-## Usage
+You can find further instructions on the Wiki:
+
+- [Quickstart](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Quickstart)
+- [DBus Service](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/DBus-service)
-usage: signal-cli [-h] [-v] [--config CONFIG] [-u USERNAME | --dbus | --dbus-system] {link,addDevice,listDevices,removeDevice,register,verify,send,quitGroup,updateGroup,listIdentities,trust,receive,daemon} ...
+## Usage
-See also: [man page in asciidoc format](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli.1.adoc)
+For a complete usage overview please read
+the [man page](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli.1.adoc) and
+the [wiki](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki).
-The USERNAME (your phone number) must include the country calling code, i.e. the number must start with a "+" sign. (See [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_calling_codes) for a list of all country codes.
+Important: The ACCOUNT is your phone number in international format and must include the country calling code. Hence it
+should start with a "+" sign. (See [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_calling_codes) for a list
+of all country codes.)
* Register a number (with SMS verification)
- signal-cli -u USERNAME register
+ signal-cli -a ACCOUNT register
-* Register a number (with voice verification)
+ You can register Signal using a landline number. In this case you can skip SMS verification process and jump directly
+ to the voice call verification by adding the `--voice` switch at the end of above register command.
- signal-cli -u USERNAME register -v
+ Registering may require solving a CAPTCHA
+ challenge: [Registration with captcha](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Registration-with-captcha)
-* Verify the number using the code received via SMS or voice
+* Verify the number using the code received via SMS or voice, optionally add `--pin PIN_CODE` if you've added a pin code
+ to your account
- signal-cli -u USERNAME verify CODE
+ signal-cli -a ACCOUNT verify CODE
-* Send a message to one or more recipients
+* Send a message
- signal-cli -u USERNAME send -m "This is a message" [RECIPIENT [RECIPIENT ...]] [-a [ATTACHMENT [ATTACHMENT ...]]]
+ signal-cli -a ACCOUNT send -m "This is a message" RECIPIENT
* Pipe the message content from another process.
- uname -a | signal-cli -u USERNAME send [RECIPIENT [RECIPIENT ...]]
-
-* Receive messages
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME receive
-
-* Groups
-
- * Create a group
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME updateGroup -n "Group name" -m [MEMBER [MEMBER ...]]
-
- * Update a group
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME updateGroup -g GROUP_ID -n "New group name" -a "AVATAR_IMAGE_FILE"
-
- * Add member to a group
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME updateGroup -g GROUP_ID -m "NEW_MEMBER"
-
- * Leave a group
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME quitGroup -g GROUP_ID
-
- * Send a message to a group
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME send -m "This is a message" -g GROUP_ID
-
-* Linking other devices (Provisioning)
-
- * Connect to another device
-
- signal-cli link -n "optional device name"
-
- This shows a "tsdevice:/…" link, if you want to connect to another signal-cli instance, you can just use this link. If you want to link to and Android device, create a QR code with the link (e.g. with [qrencode](https://fukuchi.org/works/qrencode/)) and scan that in the Signal Android app.
-
- * Add another device
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME addDevice --uri "tsdevice:/…"
-
- The "tsdevice:/…" link is the one shown by the new signal-cli instance or contained in the QR code shown in Signal-Desktop or similar apps.
- Only the master device (that was registered directly, not linked) can add new devices.
-
- * Manage linked devices
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME listDevices
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME removeDevice -d DEVICE_ID
-
-* Manage trusted keys
+ uname -a | signal-cli -a ACCOUNT send --message-from-stdin RECIPIENT
- * View all known keys
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME listIdentities
-
- * View known keys of one number
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME listIdentities -n NUMBER
-
- * Trust new key, after having verified it
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME trust -v FINGER_PRINT NUMBER
-
- * Trust new key, without having verified it. Only use this if you don't care about security
-
- signal-cli -u USERNAME trust -a NUMBER
-
-* Set configuration directory
-
- signal-cli --config=/home/other_user/.config/signal
-
- This is particularily useful in the case, when you would like to run the signal-cli tool as a different user as the one, that was used to register the account. You should make sure, that the caller has full read/write access to the given directory.
-
-## DBus service
+* Receive messages
-signal-cli can run in daemon mode and provides an experimental dbus interface.
-For dbus support you need jni/unix-java.so installed on your system (Debian: libunixsocket-java ArchLinux: libmatthew-unix-java (AUR)).
+ signal-cli -a ACCOUNT receive
-* Run in daemon mode (dbus session bus)
+**Hint**: The Signal protocol expects that incoming messages are regularly received (using `daemon` or `receive`
+command). This is required for the encryption to work efficiently and for getting updates to groups, expiration timer
+and other features.
- signal-cli -u USERNAME daemon
+## Storage
-* Send a message via dbus
+The password and cryptographic keys are created when registering and stored in the current users home directory:
- signal-cli --dbus send -m "Message" [RECIPIENT [RECIPIENT ...]] [-a [ATTACHMENT [ATTACHMENT ...]]]
+ $XDG_DATA_HOME/signal-cli/data/
+ $HOME/.local/share/signal-cli/data/
-### System bus
+## Building
-To run on the system bus you need to take some additional steps.
-It’s advisable to run signal-cli as a separate unix user, the following steps assume you created a user named *signal-cli*.
-These steps, executed as root, should work on all distributions using systemd.
+This project uses [Gradle](http://gradle.org) for building and maintaining dependencies. If you have a recent gradle
+version installed, you can replace `./gradlew` with `gradle` in the following steps.
-Mind the fact that signal.service executes the signal-cli with "--config /var/lib/signal-cli".
-If you registered with user signal-cli, remove the config option.
+1. Checkout the source somewhere on your filesystem with
-```bash
-cp data/org.asamk.Signal.conf /etc/dbus-1/system.d/
-cp data/org.asamk.Signal.service /usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/
-cp data/signal.service /etc/systemd/system/
-sed -i -e "s|%dir%|<INSERT_INSTALL_PATH>|" -e "s|%number%|<INSERT_YOUR_NUMBER>|" /etc/systemd/system/signal.service
-systemctl daemon-reload
-systemctl enable signal.service
-systemctl reload dbus.service
-```
+ git clone https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli.git
-Make sure to use "--dbus-system" with the send command, the service will be autostarted by dbus the first time it is requested.
+2. Execute Gradle:
-## Storage
+ ./gradlew build
-The password and cryptographic keys are created when registering and stored in the current users home directory:
+ 2a. Create shell wrapper in *build/install/signal-cli/bin*:
- $HOME/.config/signal/data/
+ ./gradlew installDist
-For legacy users, the old config directory is used as a fallback:
+ 2b. Create tar file in *build/distributions*:
- $HOME/.config/textsecure/data/
+ ./gradlew distTar
-## Building
+ 2c. Create a fat tar file in *build/libs/signal-cli-fat*:
-This project uses [Gradle](http://gradle.org) for building and maintaining
-dependencies. If you have a recent gradle version installed, you can replace `./gradlew` with `gradle` in the following steps.
+ ./gradlew fatJar
-1. Checkout the source somewhere on your filesystem with
+ 2d. Compile and run signal-cli:
- git clone https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli.git
+ ./gradlew run --args="--help"
-2. Execute Gradle:
+### Building a native binary with GraalVM (EXPERIMENTAL)
- ./gradlew build
+It is possible to build a native binary with [GraalVM](https://www.graalvm.org). This is still experimental and will not
+work in all situations.
-3. Create shell wrapper in *build/install/signal-cli/bin*:
+1. [Install GraalVM and setup the enviroment](https://www.graalvm.org/docs/getting-started/#install-graalvm)
+2. [Install prerequisites](https://www.graalvm.org/reference-manual/native-image/#prerequisites)
+3. Execute Gradle:
- ./gradlew installDist
+ ./gradlew nativeCompile
-4. Create tar file in *build/distributions*:
+ The binary is available at *build/native/nativeCompile/signal-cli*
- ./gradlew distTar
+## FAQ and Troubleshooting
-## Troubleshooting
-If you use a version of the Oracle JRE and get an InvalidKeyException you need to enable unlimited strength crypto. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6481627/java-security-illegal-key-size-or-default-parameters for instructions.
+For frequently asked questions and issues have a look at the [wiki](https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/FAQ)
## License
git.nmode.ca / signal-cli / blobdiff
