xmppipe: stdio over XMPP

xmppipe redirects stdin/stdout in a shell pipeline to an XMPP MUC (XEP-0045). xmppipe supports flow control using stream management (XEP-0198) and can optionally deal with overload by acting as a circuit breaker or by discarding messages.

xmppipe works with line oriented tools like grep, sed and awk by outputting each message as a newline terminated, percent-encoded string.

xmppipe can be used in shell scripts to quickly write interactive bots for monitoring systems or for sending alerts.

Usage

xmppipe [*options*]

XMPPIPE_USERNAME=me@example.com
XMPPIPE_PASSWORD="password"
xmppipe -o muc

Requirements

• libstrophe

  libstrophe 0.9.2 or later is required for TLS certificate verification.

Build

$ make

Tests

# Install bats:
# apt-get install bats
# git clone https://github.com/sstephenson/bats.git # or from git
make test

Sandboxing

xmppipe uses a sandbox to try to restrict itself to whatever operations are necessary for interacting with stdio.

There are 2 sandboxes:

• a permissive "init" sandbox allowing network connections to the XMPP server

• after the connection is established, a stricter "stdio" sandbox restricting the process to stdio operations

The effectiveness of the sandbox depends on which mechanism is used. By default:

• Linux:

  • init: seccomp(2)
  • stdio: seccomp(2)

• OpenBSD:

  • init: pledge(2)
  • stdio: pledge(2)

• FreeBSD:

  • init: setrlimit(2)
  • stdio: setrlimit(2)/capsicum(4)

• other: setrlimit(2)

  • init: setrlimit(2)
  • stdio: setrlimit(2)

Selecting the sandbox can be done at compile time. For example, to use the "rlimit" sandbox:

XMPPIPE_SANDBOX=rlimit make

If a sandbox is interfering with normal operation, please open an issue. To disable the sandbox, compile using the "null" sandbox:

XMPPIPE_SANDBOX=null make

Options

-u, --username JID

XMPP username: takes precedence over environment variable

-p, --password password

XMPP password: takes precedence over environment variable

-r, --resource resource

XMPP resource, used as the nickname in the MUC

-o, --output output

XMPP MUC name

Default: stdout-hostname-uid

-S, --subject subject

XMPP MUC subject

-a, --address address:port

Specify the IP address and port of the XMPP server

-d, --discard

Discard stdin when MUC is empty

-D, --discard-to-stdout

Discard stdin and print to local stdout

-e, --ignore-eof

Ignore stdin EOF

-s, --exit-when-empty

Exit when MUC is empty

-x, --base64

Base64 encode/decode data

-b, --buffer-size size

Size of read buffer

-I, --interval interval

Request stream management status every interval messages

-k, --keepalives seconds

Periodically send a keepalive

-K, --keepalive-failures count

Number of keepalive failures before exiting

-P, --poll-delay ms

Poll delay

-v, --verbose

Increase verbosity

--no-tls-verify

Disable TLS certificate verification

Decoding Percent-Encoded Strings

Using bash:

decode() {
    printf '%b' "${1//%/\\x}"
}

Examples

Shell Bot

An interactive XMPP bot written in the shell:

#!/bin/bash

set -o errexit
set -o nounset
set -o pipefail

trap cleanup EXIT

TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)

in="$TMPDIR/stdin"
out="$TMPDIR/stdout"

mkfifo $in
mkfifo $out

cleanup() {
    rm -rf $TMPDIR
}

decode() {
    printf '%b' "${1//%/\\x}"
}

bot() {
    while read line; do
        IFS=:
        set -- $line
        if [ "$1" = "p" ]; then
            decode "$line" 1>&2
            echo 1>&2
        elif [ "$1" = "m" ]; then
            USER="$(decode ${3#*%2F})"
            IFS=$OFS
            MSG="$(decode ${!#})"
            case $MSG in
                *"has set the subject to:"*) ;;
                "sudo make me a sandwich")
                    echo "$USER: you're a sandwich"
                    ;;
                sudo*)
                    echo "I'm sorry, $USER. I'm afraid I can't do that."
                    ;;
                uptime)
                    uptime
                    ;;
                exit)
                    echo "exiting ..."
                    exit 0
                    ;;
                *)
                    echo "$@"
                    ;;
            esac
        fi
    done < $out
}

bot > $in &
xmppipe "$@" <$in >$out

SSH over XMPP

See examples/ssh-over-xmpp:

# Server: has access to the destination SSH server
# ssh-over-xmpp server <conference> <IP address> <port>
ssh-over-xmpp server sshxmpp 1.2.3.4 22

## Client: has access to the XMPP server
ssh -o ProxyCommand="ssh-over-xmpp client sshxmpp" 127.0.0.1

Stream Events from Riemann

This example will stream events from a query to an XMPP MUC using Riemann's SSE interface. The events are written to a named pipe to avoid buffering.

mkfifo riemann
curl -s --get --data subscribe=true \
    --data-urlencode 'query=(service ~= "^example")' \
    http://example.com:80/index < /dev/null > riemann &
xmppipe --verbose --verbose \
        --output "muc" --discard --subject "riemann events" < riemann

Mirror a terminal session using script(1)

• user

#!/bin/bash

MUC=console

TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
FIFO=$TMPDIR/console
mkfifo $FIFO

stty cols 80 rows 24
(cat $FIFO | xmppipe --resource user --output $MUC -x) > /dev/null 2> $TMPDIR/stderr &
script -q -f $FIFO

• viewers

#!/bin/bash

decode() {
    printf '%b' "${1//%/\\x}"
}

stty cols 80 rows 24
xmppipe --resource viewer --output console --base64 | while read l; do
    IFS=:
    set -- $l
    if [ "$1" = "m" ]; then
        decode $5
    fi
done

Mirror a terminal session to a web page

Environment Variables

• XMPPIPE_USERNAME: XMPP jid

• XMPPIPE_PASSWORD: XMPP password

Format

Each message is terminated by a new line. Message fields are separated by ":" and percent encoded.

Presence

p:<available|unavailable>:<to jid>:<from jid>

Example:

p:available:test@muc.example.com/xmppipe:occupant@example.com/1234

Message

m:<chat|groupchat>:<from jid>:<to jid>:<message body>

Example:

m:groupchat:test@muc.example.com/mobile:user1@example.com/1234:Hello
m:chat:user1@example.com/mobile:user2@example.com:Message%20goes%20here

Compatibility

Tested with ejabberd and mongooseim.

License

Copyright (c) 2015-2017, Michael Santos michael.santos@gmail.com

Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

TODO

• support XEP-0384: OMEMO Encryption

• support alternative input modes

  Add a command line argument to enable various input modes. The default mode converts stdin to a message body.

  "formatted" mode takes the same input as the output. For example, to send a chat message:

  echo 'm:chat:user1@example.com/mobile:user2@example.com:Message%20goes%20here' | xmppipe

  A "raw" mode could also be added: XML input/output.