HamachiX Beta, latest build 1A20 as of May 30th, 2006



Intro
This is the distribution page for HamachiX. HamachiX is the frontend for Mac OS X to hamachi, a secure mediated VPN client. This allows to create virtual private networks between many clients through firewalls in most cases, for more details check out the hamachi homepage.

Note to self: Make nice homepage!



Terms Of Use
HamachiX is still beta software and a work in progress. By downloading this software you agree to take full responsibility for any of the results of such use, to not be involved or representing any country's government, nor any other legal entity in pursuit of damages or any other sort of claim against the author of any of the software involved. The author reserves all of his rights without prejudice. The author can be reached at the following email:





Update June 5th, 2006
There is an issue not reported so far but soon going to pop up: after a computer joins a network it doesn't go away when same computer leaves same network again later on. Probably there are other symptoms where properties of a peer are not updated correctly. The work around is to quit HaamchiX, delete the directory ~/Library/Application Support/HamachiX and then relaunch it. It will then retrieve and rebuild the list of networks and peers from scratch.



Update June 3rd, 2006
More bugfixes to parsing and resource management, HamachiX passed the 24 uptime test for the first time, please check out the Version History.
Download 0.9 (1A21)



Update June 1st, 2006
There was an issue with intallation in 1A20 that got fixed and reposted as of 8.20 pm CET / 11.20 am PMT.






Update May 30th, 2006
More bugfixes to parsing, improving stability and performance, for further details, please check out the Version History.
Download 0.9 (1A20)



Update May 28th, 2006
There was an outage today due to downloads having exceeded my .Mac limit.
I'm currently working on next build, mostly on under-the-hood things that to date cause random misbehaviours here and there.



Update May 25th, 2006
More bugfixes, for further details, please check out the Version History.
Download 0.9 (1A18)



Update May 23nd, 2006
After adding a host of new features and things along with it came a host of crashes that 1A17 addresses.
Download 0.9 (1A17)

For a full list of changes check out the Version History.



Update May 22nd, 2006
To follow latest developments and changes you can sign up to the HamachiX mailing list here. HamachiX Beta Test Program Mailing List.



Update May 21st, 2006
Latest release 1A16 is now fully universal binary, and works on Mac OS X 10.4 and later.
There are also many other features, aside of fixing tons of stability and resource management issues.

Note to users of earlier versions of HamachiX (≤ build 1A15 of 0.9), or users who are still using a non-Universal Binary version 0.9.9.9.18 or earlier of hamachi and tuncfg
Delete your preferences file from the following location:
~/Library/Preferences/com.hamachix.HamachiXApp.plist
To make sure HamachiX uses the universal binary build of hamachi command line tool, 0.9.9.9.19, at first launch do not login, bug select Help menu ->System Support -> Uninstall System Resoures, or alternatively uninstall hamachi and tuncfg manually yourself, then select Help -> System Support -> Install System Resources. This will install UB versions for both, hamachi and tuncfg, to where they are required.
Download 0.9 (1A16)

For a full list of changes check out the Version History.



Update May 10th, 2006
Download 0.9 (1A13)



Update May 8th, 2006
Download 0.9 (1A12)



Overview
HamachiX offers the following features:

• Drag install including installation of required system resources at first launch
• Easy to use interface
• Connecting to other clients just by double clicking
• Launch at computer startup simply by adding HamachiX to your startup items
• Secure storage of network passwords through keychain
• Invite friends to your networks simply by sending an invitation

You can checkout the manual for screenshots and a more detailed overview of the functionality.



Questions and Answers

1. Why would I use HamachiX?
2. Why would I use hamachi?
3. Is HamachiX Universal Binary?
4. Do I need to download the hamachi command line tool?
5. What exactly does HamachiX do when installing system resources?
6. How can I uninstall hamachi?
7. How do I invite a friend to my network?
8. The Windows version of hamachi has a chat feature. Why does the Mac OS X version not offer this feature?
9. How do I change the name of a hamachi network?
10. Can I run hamachi in the background without having to run HamachiX all the time?

• Why would I use HamachiX?
HamachiX is a convenience adding value and adding usability to hamachi.
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• Why would I use hamachi?
If you know of two or more computers whose owners would like to exchange files between them or allow access for other kinds of services but do not have at least one static IP and a VPN server or gateway setup hamachi is for you; services you might want to use could be for example music or photo sharing through Bonjour, online gaming, remote access through Apple's Remove Desktop or Netopia's Timbuktu.
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• Is HamachiX Universal Binary?
HamachiX consists of many different pieces located in different locations of the system, and though most not all of those pieces are universal binaries. There are issues with running on Intel Macs, for more information visit the hamachi forum.
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• Do I need to download the hamachi command line tool?
No, HamachiX installs everything for you into the required locations, at least that's the idea.
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• What exactly does HamachiX do when installing system resources?
HamachiX takes the following steps to ensure hamachi is fully functional:

• Installing /Library/Extensions/tun.kext
• Installing /Library/Extensions/tap.kext
• Installing /usr/bin/hamachi
• Installing /usr/bin/tuncfg
• Load kernel extension tun.kext
• Load kernel extension tap.kext
• Installing and loading through launchctl of /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tuncfgd.plist to make sure for tuncfg to be running at all times
• Create a soft link to hamachi at /usr/bin/hamachi-init
• Initializing key-pair through hamachi-init if necessary

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• How can I uninstall hamachi?
You can either run the Uninstall system resources menu item under the help menu or remove all of the aforementioned files manually through Terminal. It's recommended you restart your computer afterwards.
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• How do I invite a friend to my network?
You can simply select the button with the envelope and an email will be created for you attached to which there is going to be a file that contains all the necessary information for the networks you had selected at that time.
Alternatively and if you do not like the email template text you can just select one or more of your networks from the list and in the File Menu choose Save Selected Networks.... When the known save dialog is presented choose a name for your invitation, or go with the default name; then hit the save-button. You can then create an email and attach the document to the email.
The other party also needs HamachiX to be installed on the computer, and if it is installed, can open the attached file by just double clicking it or dragging it onto HamachiX.
This feature is not available to clients on other platforms.
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• The Windows version of hamachi has a chat feature. Why does the Mac OS X version not offer this feature?
There is no need for this feature. Coincidentally --in fact it was on purpose ;)-- Mac OS X offers Bonjour as well as iChat as part and parcel of the OS, where hamachi supports Bonjour; ergo you can open the Bonjour window in iChat and should see any other peers there currently online on the networks you are online on, from where you can hit them up and chat to them.
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• How do I change the name of a hamachi network?
The underlying architecture uses the network name as a unique ID. You cannot change the name of a network without destroying that network and creating a new one with the new, changed name. Once a network was taken online for the first time it is created on the hamachi server. To change its name just create a new network with that name, and delete the old one if you like to.
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• Can I run hamachi in the background without having to run HamachiX all the time?
Once you have your networks set up the way you want them to you can select the preferences and deselect to shut down hamachi when the app quits. Then you can simply quit HamachiX and launch it whenever you want to use it for any administrative tasks on your networks.
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