SOCKSify Ruby

What is it?

SOCKSify Ruby redirects any TCP connection initiated by a Ruby script through a SOCKS5 proxy. It serves as a small drop-in alternative to tsocks, except that it handles Ruby programs only and doesn't leak DNS queries.

How does it work?

require 'socksify/http'

This adds a new class method Net::HTTP.socks_proxy which takes the host and port address of a socks proxy. Once set, all requests will be routed via socks. This is acheived by patching a private method in Net::HTTP, as sadly Ruby no longer has native socks proxy support out of the box.

Additionally, Socksify.resolve can be used to resolve hostnames to IPv4 addresses via SOCKS.

Installation

$ gem install socksify

Usage

Redirect all TCP connections of a Ruby program

Run a Ruby script with redirected TCP through a local Tor anonymizer:

$ socksify_ruby localhost 9050 script.rb

Explicit SOCKS usage in a Ruby program (Deprecated in Ruby 3.1 onwards)

Set up SOCKS connections for a local Tor anonymizer, TCPSockets can be used as usual:

require 'socksify'

TCPSocket.socks_server = "127.0.0.1"
TCPSocket.socks_port = 9050
rubyforge_www = TCPSocket.new("rubyforge.org", 80)
# => #<TCPSocket:0x...>

Use Net::HTTP explicitly via SOCKS

Require the additional library socksify/http and use the Net::HTTP.socks_proxy method. It is similar to Net::HTTP.Proxy from the Ruby standard library:

require 'socksify/http'

uri = URI.parse('http://ipecho.net/plain')
Net::HTTP.socks_proxy('127.0.0.1', 9050).start(uri.host, uri.port) do |http|
  req = Net::HTTP::Get.new uri
  resp = http.request(req)
  puts resp.inspect
  puts resp.body
end
# => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>
# => <A tor exit node ip address>

Note that Net::HTTP.socks_proxy never relies on TCPSocket.socks_server/socks_port. You should either set socks_proxy arguments explicitly or use Net::HTTP directly.

Resolve addresses via SOCKS

Socksify.resolve("spaceboyz.net")
# => "87.106.131.203"

Testing and Debugging

A tor proxy is required before running the tests. Install tor from your usual package manager, check it is running with pidof tor then run the tests with:

ruby test/test_socksify.rb (uses minitest, gem install minitest if you don't have it)

Colorful diagnostic messages are enabled by default via:

Socksify::debug = true`

Development

The repository can be checked out with:

$ git-clone git@github.com:astro/socksify-ruby.git

Send patches via pull requests. Please run rubcop & correct any errors first.

Further ideas

• Resolv replacement code, so that programs which resolve by themselves don't leak DNS queries
• IPv6 address support
• UDP as soon as Tor supports it
• Perhaps using standard exceptions for better compatibility when acting as a drop-in?

Author

• Stephan Maka

License

SOCKSify Ruby is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 (see file COPYING) or the Ruby License (see file LICENSE) at your option.