Tailscale install alternative to CLI?

Kundalini · October 16, 2023, 6:43pm

Hi,

Does anyone have experience with tailscale from AUR? I downloaded using the CLI method on their website, and for linux it’s a terrible mess, especially with the DNS issues. All my other devices work fine, but only on Linux does it run strange. I am looking at the AUR and I see a few of them, but I am surprised at how little activity there is with tailscale in the AUR. Right now, I find myself executing this fix rather regularly to fix the DNS issues.

BluishHumility · October 16, 2023, 8:20pm

No need to install anything from the AUR, Tailscale is in the [extra] repo.

sudo pacman -S tailscale

No terrible mess.

I opened an issue for the DNS problem and they put in a fix for it yesterday.

github.com/tailscale/tailscale

Tailscale incorrectly detecting systemd-resolved

opened 03:59PM - 06 Oct 23 UTC

closed 12:12AM - 16 Oct 23 UTC

BluishHumility

OS-linux L2 Few P2 Aggravating T5 Usability dns

### What is the issue? I have an EndeavourOS VM which has been running Tailscal…e for a few months. It uses a remote exit node and generally works great. At some point over the last few weeks it stopped overwriting `/etc/resolv.conf` when the system would start up. From what I understand from reading through forums and issue threads, it appears to be detecting `systemd-resolved` is in use, although I do not use it--I use NetworkManager. ``` ❯ systemctl status systemd-resolved ○ systemd-resolved.service - Network Name Resolution Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-resolved.service; disabled; preset: enabled) Active: inactive (dead) Docs: man:systemd-resolved.service(8) man:org.freedesktop.resolve1(5) https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/writing-network-configuration-managers https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/writing-resolver-clients ``` The bottom of my `tailscale status` output has these lines: ``` # Health check: # - dns-manager: systemd-resolved and NetworkManager are wired together incorrectly; MagicDNS will probably not work. For more info, see https://tailscale.com/s/resolved-nm # - dns-os: setLinkDNS: Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.resolve1.service not found. # - dns: setLinkDNS: Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.resolve1.service not found. ``` I am able to work around the issue by manually overwriting `/etc/resolv.conf` like this: ``` ❯ echo 'nameserver 100.100.100.100' | sudo tee /etc/resolv.conf ``` After overwriting `resolv.conf`, everything works great. The exit node is in use and I can access local resources on the LAN of the exit node, etc. It's no huge bother to manually overwrite `/etc/resolv.conf` at boot, but I just can't seem to figure out why it is needed. When I first set up the VM Tailscale was working without this intervention. I thought I would reach out in case there is something I am missing, or perhaps I have run into a bug. ### Steps to reproduce The issue recurs at each boot. The Tailscale service starts automatically, but fails to overwrite `/etc/resolv.conf`. ### Are there any recent changes that introduced the issue? I believe I noticed this change after taking a normal system update and rebooting. I wish I checked if Tailscale was one of the packages that was updated, but I did not think of it at the time. I can't think of any other changes that would have affected the networking configuration, but it is possible I changed something inadvertently. ### OS Linux ### OS version EndeavourOS ### Tailscale version 1.50.0 ### Other software EndeavourOS is a guest in VMware Workstation 17 Player, using NAT to share the host's IP address. This configuration has not changed between when it was working normally and now. ### Bug report BUG-51974eeedf1d8696323400a1f5c94dbacfc0c1c17f9b563e4ce7f7990d6378f1-20231006155910Z-8290586189d4db1f

The updated version of the package hasn’t been pushed to the repo yet so I haven’t had a chance to test it out. In the meanwhile I have been just manually overriding /etc/resolv.conf instead of enabling systemd-resolved.

sudo sed -i "s|192.168.204.2|100.100.100.100|" /etc/resolv.conf

or

echo 'nameserver 100.100.100.100' | sudo tee /etc/resolv.conf

From there, Tailscale works great.

Kundalini · October 16, 2023, 8:35pm

Okay, if they fixed it, and it’s waiting to pushed, that’s a good sign. Right now, I am experiencing DNS issues when changing DNS in tailscale nameserver settings. I have to keep fixing the DNS with the link I put in my original post.

What I really was asking is if there’s a GUI client that I can use to monitor the status of my tailscale client, kinda like how the official clients do. Do you know if any exist on the AUR that work?

GolDNenex · October 16, 2023, 8:50pm

If that really bother you, you can make the file immutable with

sudo chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf

and to make it mutable

sudo chattr -i /etc/resolv.conf

Kundalini · October 16, 2023, 8:53pm

I suspect this would only work if I don’t change the DNS once muting it. If I change the DNS, I imagine it will break, wouldn’t it?

GolDNenex · October 16, 2023, 8:53pm

Nothing will be able to overwriting it with the +i flag. If you want to edit the file, you will need to

unlock > edit > lock it

BluishHumility · October 16, 2023, 10:31pm

Someone put together a GTK app written in Go:

It appears to be getting active development, although the author warns it is “in an alpha state”.

I’ve never used it so I have no idea if it is any good. You’ll have to try it out for yourself and let us know how you like it.

Kundalini · October 17, 2023, 2:15am

Yea, I love the warning the developer wrote saying “if it bricks your computer it’s not my fault” Yea that’s really convincing me to install it

Kundalini · October 17, 2023, 2:44am

I installed it, great application. You actually should check it yourself. Thanks!