Private Internet Access Desktop Client

This is the desktop client for the Private Internet Access VPN service. It consists of an unprivileged thin GUI client (the "client") and a privileged background service/daemon (the "daemon"). The daemon runs a single instance on the machine and is responsible for not only network configuration but also settings and account handling, talking to PIA servers as necessary. The client meanwhile runs in each active user's desktop and consists almost entirely of presentation logic. No matter how many users are active on a machine, they control the same single VPN instance and share a single PIA account.

The project uses Qt 5 for cross-platform development, both in the client and daemon. The client GUI is based on Qt Quick, which uses declarative markup language and JavaScript and offers hardware accelerated rendering when available. Qt and Qt Quick tend to be more memory and CPU efficient compared to web-based UI frameworks like Electron or NW.js.

Building and developing

The client is intended to be built on the target platform; Windows builds are built on Windows, macOS builds on macOS, and Linux builds on Debian.

The entire product is built using rake, using the supporting framework in the rake/ directory.

Dependencies such as OpenVPN and the Windows TAP driver are included as precompiled binaries under the deps directory in this project for convenience. To recompile any of these, please refer to their corresponding directories and/or repositories for build instructions.

Cloning the repository

Before cloning the Git repository, first make sure Git LFS is installed and initialized:

> git lfs version
git-lfs/2.3.4 (GitHub; windows amd64; go 1.8.3; git d2f6752f)

> git lfs install
Updated git hooks.
Git LFS initialized.

After this, cloning the repository normally should also fetch the precompiled binaries:

> git clone https://github.com/pia-foss/desktop.git
...
Filtering content: 100% (24/24), 17.13 MiB | 1.89 MiB/s, done.

Prerequisites

• On Windows:
  • Qt 5.15.2
    • If you want to be able to fully debug into Qt code and debug QML as well, you will need to follow this process:
      • Download Qt from the official website: https://www.qt.io/download-open-source, scroll down and click "Download the Qt Online Installer"
      • The installer name should look like this "qt-unified-windows-x64-4.6.0-online.exe"
      • You will need to create an account and login
      • Select path C:\Qt and "Custom installation"
      • When selecting components check these boxes:
        • Qt / Qt 5.15.2 / MSVC2019 32-bit, MSVC2019 64-bit, Sources, Qt Debug Information Files
        • Qt / Developer and Designer Tools / Qt Creator, ...CDB Debugger support, Debugging Tools for Windows, CMake
      • (optional) If you have multiple installations of Qt, set user environment variable QTROOT to C:\Qt\5.15.2
    • Otherwise, if you just need to build the client, you can use aqt. Run these commands in Powershell with admin priviledges:
      • Install choco: (skip this step if you already have a working choco. Run choco to find out)
        Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
      • choco install python
      • Close Powershell and open a new Admin istance
      • pip install aqtinstall
      • mkdir C:\Qt-aqt
      • cd C:\Qt-aqt
      • aqt install-qt windows desktop 5.15.2 win64_msvc2019_64
      • (optional) If you have multiple installations of Qt, set user environment variable QTROOT to C:\Qt-aqt\5.15.2
  • Visual Studio Community 2019
    • Unfortunately now, you need to login in order to download the old installer
    • Select "Desktop development with C++" and check these boxes:
      • MSVC v142
      • Windows 10 SDK
      • Just-In-Time debugger
    • Requires VS 16.7 or later
    • The Windows SDK must be at least 10.0.17763.0
    • Install the "Windows 8.1 SDK and UCRT SDK" to get the UCRT redistributable DLLs for 7/8/8.1
    • The VS installer doesn't include the Console Debugger (CDB), which is needed to debug in Qt Creator. More info: Setting Up Debugger
  • Ruby - includes Rake
  • 7-zip
  • Git Bash
    • Cloning and performing git operations via git bash instead of powershell is recommended, due to some knows bugs in Windows built-in openssh service in regards to git-lfs.
• On macOS:
  • Qt 5.15.2
    • PIA's universal build of Qt is recommended: desktop-dep-build releases
    • The universal Qt build can be used for universal or single-architecture PIA builds.
    • If you want Qt Creator, also install Qt from qt.io
  • Big Sur or newer is required to build
  • Up-to-date version of Xcode
  • Ruby, can be installed using Homebrew with brew install ruby
  • Install rake gem: sudo gem install rake
  • (Only on Apple silicon macs) Before running rake, install the arm64 version of Nokogiri
    sudo ARCHFLAGS="-arch arm64" gem install nokogiri -v 1.13.10
• On Linux:
  • Supported distribution with clang 7 or newer
  • Supported architectures: x86_64, armhf, arm64
  • Qt 5.15 or later
    • PIA's build of Qt is recommended: desktop-dep-build releases
    • If you want Qt Creator, also install Qt from qt.io
  • Host build (Debian 10+ and derivatives):
    • sudo apt install build-essential rake clang mesa-common-dev libnl-3-dev libnl-route-3-dev libnl-genl-3-dev git git-lfs
  • Host build (Arch and derivatives):
    • sudo pacman -S base-devel git-lfs ruby-rake clang llvm libnl zip
  • Debian 9 chroot build (used to build published releases for maximum compatibility, and for cross builds)
    • sudo apt install schroot debootstrap
    • Then use ./scripts/chroot/setup.sh to set up the build chroots, see "Building for Distribution - Linux" below

Running and debugging

Each platform requires additional installation steps in order for the client to be usable (e.g. the Windows TAP adapter needs to be installed).
The easiest way to perform these steps is to build and run an installer, after which you can stop and run individual executables in a debugger instead.

To debug your own daemon, the installed daemon must first be stopped:

• Windows: Run services.msc and stop the Private Internet Access Service. Set it to manual
• macOS: Run sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.privateinternetaccess.vpn.daemon.plist
• Linux: Run sudo systemctl stop piavpn

The daemon must run as root. Consult your IDE/debugger documentation for how to safely run the debugger target as root.

Windows only:

• If you have installed Qt using the official installer, add C:\Qt\5.15.2\msvc2019_64\bin to your user environment variable path.
  This is needed if you want to run pia-client.exe or pia-service.exe via command line.
• To run the pia-daemon, execute .\pia-service.exe run in Powershell with admin privileges

To check PIA logs, go to your *installation_path*\data (The default path on Windows is C:\Program Files\Private Internet Access\data).
In order to enable all the logs, in PIA app Settings page go to Help and select Enable Debug Logging.

Quick start

• To build the final installer for the host OS and architecture: rake installer
  • Produced in out/pia_debug_<arch>/installer
• To build all artifacts for the host OS and architecture: rake all
  • Artifacts go to out/pia_debug_<arch>/artifacts
• To build just the staged installation for development: rake
  • Staged installation is in out/pia_debug_<arch>/stage - run the client or daemon from here
• To run tests: rake test
• To build for release instead of debug, set VARIANT=release with any of the above

Qt Creator

To open the project in Qt Creator, open CMakeLists.txt as a project. This CMake script defines targets for Qt Creator and hooks them up to the appropriate rake tasks, which allows Qt Creator to build, run, and debug targets.

Some specific configuration changes are useful in Qt Creator:

File Locator

The file locator (Ctrl+K / Cmd+K) can only locate files referenced by targets by default, so it won't be able to find build system files (.rb), scripts (.sh/.bat), etc. To find any file in the project directory:

1. Open Qt Creator's Preferences
2. Go to Environment > Locator
3. Next to "Files in All Project Directories", check the box for "Default"
4. Select "Files in All Project Directoreis" and click "Edit..."
5. Add the exclusion pattern "/out/" (to exclude build outputs)

Default Target

Qt Creator's default target is 'all', which is hooked up to rake's default - the staged installation only. (The real 'all' target takes a long time since it builds all tests, installers, tools, etc.)

To run or debug unit tests and other targets from Qt Creator, tell it to build the current executable's target instead:

1. Go to the Projects page
2. Select "Build" under current kit"
3. Under "Build Steps", expand the CMake build step
4. Select "Current executable" instead of "all":

Kit and Qt version

Qt Creator will still ask to select a kit, which includes a Qt version, compiler, etc. Just select Qt 5.15.2 (on Windows, the MSVC 2019 64-bit target), so the code model will work.

This has no effect on the build output - the Rake scripts find Qt and the compiler on their own, which allows them to be run with no prior setup.

Build system

The following targets can be passed to rake. The default target is stage, which stages the built client, daemon, and dependencies for local testing (but does not build installers, tests, etc.)

Target	Explanation
(default)	Builds the client and daemon; stages executables with dependencies in out/pia_debug_x86_64/stage for local testing.
test	Builds and runs unit tests; produces code coverage artifacts if possible on the current platform (requires clang 6+)
installer	Builds the final installer artifact, including code signing if configured.
export	Builds extra artifacts needed from CI but not part of any deployable artifact (currently translation exports)
libs	Builds the dtop libraries and development artifact (see DTOP-LIBS.md)
tools	Builds extra tools for development purposes that are not used as part of the build process or as part of any shipped artifact.
artifacts	Builds all artifacts and copies to out/pia_debug_x86_64/artifacts (depends on most other targets, execpt test when coverage measurement isn't possible)
all	All targets.

Configurations

The build system has several properties that can be configured, either in the environment or by passing the appropriate variables to rake.

These are implemented in rake/build.rb. The output directory name includes the current brand, variant, and architecture.

Variable	Values	Default	Explanation
VARIANT	debug, release	debug	Create a debug build (unoptimized, some compression levels reduced for speed), or release build (optimized, maximum compression).
ARCHITECTURE	x86_64, x86, arm64, arm64e, armhf, universal	Host architecture	Select an alternate architecture. Architecture support varies by platform.
PLATFORM	windows, macos, linux, android, ios, iossim	Host platform	Select an alternate platform. Android and iOS targets only build core libraries and tests. Android builds can be performed from macOS or Linux hosts. iOS and iOS Simulator builds can be performed from macOS hosts.
BRAND	(directories in brands/)	pia	Build an alternate brand.

Variables

Some additional environment variables can be configured:

Variable	Example	Explanation
QTROOT	/opt/Qt/5.15.2	Path to the installed Qt version, if qt.rb can't find it or you want to force a specific version

Building for distribution

rake artifacts (or rake all) produces the final artifacts for distribution, including signing if code signing details are provided. Code signing environment variables are defined below.

Build scripts in the scripts directory are also provided that clean, then build for all architectures supported on a given platform.

Windows

Set environment variables:

Variable	Value
BRAND	(Optional) Brand to build (defaults to pia)
PIA_SIGNTOOL_CERTFILE	Path to certificate file (if signing with PFX archived cert)
PIA_SIGNTOOL_PASSWORD	Password to decrypt cert file (if signing with encrypted PFX archived cert)
PIA_SIGNTOOL_THUMBRPINT	Thumbprint of certificate - signs with cert from cert store instead of PFX archive

Then call scripts/build-windows.bat

Mac

Set environment variables:

Variable	Value
BRAND	(Optional) Brand to build (defaults to pia)
PIA_CODESIGN_CERT	Common name of the signing certificate. Must be the complete common name, not a partial match.
PIA_APPLE_ID_EMAIL	Apple ID used to notarize build.
PIA_APPLE_ID_PASSWORD	Password to Apple ID for notarization.
PIA_APPLE_ID_PROVIDER	(Optional) Provider to use if Apple ID is member of multiple teams.

Call scripts/build-macos.sh

A certificate is required for the Mac build to be installable (even for local builds), see below to generate a self-signed certificate for local use. Unsigned builds can be manually installed by running the install script with sudo.

Linux

If you have not already done so, set up Debian 9 build chroots. This requires debootstrap and schroot.

$ ./scripts/chroot/setup.sh # native x86_64 build environment
$ ./scripts/chroot/setup.sh --cross-target arm64 # arm64 cross build environment
$ ./scripts/chroot/setup.sh --cross-target armhf # armhf cross build environment

Set environment variables:

Variable	Value
BRAND	(Optional) Brand to build (defaults to pia)

Then call scripts/build-linux.sh.

Mac installation

Installation on Mac uses SMJobBless to install a privileged helper that does the installation.

Mac OS requires the app to be signed in order to install and use the helper. If the app is not signed, it will not be able to install or uninstall itself (you can still install or uninstall manually by running the install script with sudo.)

PIA_CODESIGN_CERT must be set to the full common name of the certificate to sign with. (codesign allows a partial match, but the full CN is needed for various Info.plist files.)

To test installation, you can generate a self-signed certificate and sign with that.

• Open Keychain Access
• Create a new keychain
  1. Right-click in the Keychains pane and select "New Keychain..."
  2. Give it a name (such as "PIA codesign") and password
• Generate a self-signed code signing certificate
  1. Select your new keychain
  2. In the menu bar, select Keychain Access > Certificate Assistant > Create a Certificate...
  3. Enter a name, such as "PIA codesign", it does not have to match the keychain name
  4. Keep the default identity type "Self Signed Root"
  5. Change the certificate type to "Code Signing"
  6. Click Create, then Continue
• Optional - disable "lock after inactivity" for your keychain
  1. Right-click on the keychain and select "Change Settings for Keychain"
  2. Turn off locking options as desired
• Use the certificate to sign your PIA build
  • Qt Creator:
    1. Select Projects on the left sidebar, and go to the build settings for your current kit
    2. Expand "Build Environment"
    3. Add a new variable named PIA_CODESIGN_CERT, and set the value to the common name for your certificate
  • Manual builds with build-macos.sh
    1. Just set PIA_CODESIGN_CERT to the common name you gave the certificate when building

Core Libraries

Some core libraries can be built targeting Android and iOS for use in our mobile clients.

Prerequisites

• For Android targets:
  • Linux or macOS host. Windows hosts are not currently supported for Android builds.
  • Ruby and Rake:
    • Debian: sudo apt install rake
    • Arch: sudo pacman -S ruby-rake
    • macOS Homebrew: brew install ruby (includes Rake)
  • Android NDK 21.0.6113669 (preferred) or any later version
    • You can install this from Android Studio or using the command-line SDK tools
• For iOS targets:
  • macOS host, up-to-date version of Xcode
  • Ruby and Rake:
    • macOS Homebrew: brew install ruby (includes Rake)

Building

Invoke rake with PLATFORM=android or PLATFORM=ios to target a mobile platform. You can also set ARCHITECTURE to one of arm64, armhf, x86_64, or x86 - the host architecture is the default. (If you do this a lot, you can place overrides in your environment or .buildenv to use these by default.)

(Qt does not need to be installed for mobile targets.)

Build system

The same rake-based build system is used, but the available targets differ.

Target	Explanation
(default)	Stages core libraries with dependencies in out/pia_debug_<platform>_<arch>/dtop-libs for local testing.
libs_archive	Builds the library SDK ZIP containing the built libraries and headers.
tools	Builds libraries and internal test harnesses used to test them.
artifacts	Builds all artifacts and copies to out/pia_debug_<platform>_<arch>/artifacts (depends on most other targets)
all	All targets.

Headless testing

In the headless_tests directory you will find a suite of tests written in ruby with the help of RSpec. They use piactl in the background to manipulate the state of the daemon and run diverse tests. The advantage of testing in ruby is mainly simplicity, where doing things like calling API endpoints is much simpler than from C++ code.

With these almost end to end tests we hope to drastically reduce manual testing for releases to the point that we can release more frequently.

Use bundle install to ensure you get all the dependencies.
Run the tests from within the headless_tests to pick up configuration in .rspec and spec_helper. Run all tests locally using bundle exec rspec ..

Windows

Add C:\Program Files\Private Internet Access to your user environment variable Path in order to be able to run piactl from the command line. (You can still run piactl using the full path, but the headless tests won't work).

Contributing

By contributing to this project you are agreeing to the terms stated in the Contributor License Agreement. For more details please see our Contribution Guidelines or CONTRIBUTING.

Licensing

Unless otherwise noted, original source code is licensed under the GPLv3. See LICENSE for more information.