This guide will walk you through the installation, operation, and maintenance of Snowflake proxy on Linux-based systems. Running a Snowflake proxy is an easy way to contribute to the Tor Project's anti-censorship efforts.

1. Install Go

First you will need to install and configure the Go compiler to build the standalone proxy from source code. Inicia sesión con una cuenta de usuario con derechos sudo o directamente con root (en el último caso, omite la parte sudo en los siguientes comandos).

Si estás ejecutando Ubuntu o Debian, puedes instalar Go ejecutando sudo apt install golang. Si usas Fedora, Red Hat o Amazon Linux con sudo yum install golang o sudo dnf install golang.

You will need Go 1.21 or newer to run the Snowflake proxy. Please check your Go version by using the command go version. Otherwise download Go binary from the official website and follow its installation instructions.

2. Install git and clone Snowflake repository

Second you need the git client to download the Snowflake source code.

Si utilizas Ubuntu o Debian, puedes instalar git ejecutando sudo apt install git. Si usas Fedora, Red Hat o Amazon Linux con sudo yum install git o sudo dnf install git. De lo contrario, consulta la documentación de tu sistema operativo.

Please execute the following steps with the user account under which the proxy should be executed. No uses root.

Se recomienda crear una cuenta separada snowflake con derechos restringidos en el sistema.

Open your terminal and clone the source code:

git clone https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake.git

3. Build Snowflake proxy

After you cloned the repository, you can build Snowflake proxy binary by running the command:

cd snowflake/proxy
go build

4. Run the Snowflake proxy

After your proxy finished to compile, you can run it with the command:

nohup ./proxy &

Note: The command nohup allows the program to run in the background even after the terminal is closed, and & puts the command in the background immediately.

If you want to save the proxy output to a logfile, for example, to see your proxy usage, you can use:

nohup ./proxy >snowflake.log 2>&1 &

5. Make sure the proxy is started after a reboot of the system

Edit your crontab by running the command:

crontab -e

Ingresa la siguiente línea (ejemplo, adapta la trayectoria a tu situación)

@reboot nohup /home/snowflake/snowflake/proxy/proxy > /home/snowflake/snowflake/proxy/snowflake.log 2>&1 &

Verifica si esto funciona reiniciando el sistema y verificando el registro. Note: On some Linux installations this might not work.

6. Keep your Snowflake proxy updated

Para mantener actualizado tu proxy de snowflake, ejecuta los siguientes comandos cada pocas semanas (inicie sesión con la cuenta de usuario utilizada durante la instalación del proxy):

kill -9 $(pidof proxy)
cd snowflake/
git pull
cd proxy
go build
nohup ./proxy >snowflake.log 2>&1 &