Learning CoB

# Installing cob-cli

To install the client application, make sure you have the following command-line utilities installed on your computer:

  • rsync;
  • git
  • NodeJs ( >= v16);

In order to install cob-cli you will need to:

  1. Generate a pair of public/private keys
  2. Create a GitLab account
  3. Install cob-cli
  4. Register your public key
  5. Configure ssh connection

# 1. Generate SSH keys

In order to access both the GitLab repository of the CoB server you want to interact with and the server itself, you will need to generate a pair of SSH keys (a public and a private key). You can follow this guide provided by GitLab (opens new window) explaining how to generate an SSH key pair and how to add the public key to your GitLab account.

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

Once completed, you should have two new files in your .ssh folder:

~/.ssh/id_ed25519 # This is your private key
~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub # This is your public key

# 2. Create GitLab account

Skip this step if you already have an account and wish to use it.

Go to GitLab.com register page (opens new window) and create your new account.

WARNING

After creating your account, make sure to add the newly generated public key to your GitLab account as well.

TIP

To verify that your configuration is correct, run the command ssh -T [email protected].

If everything is set up properly, you should see a message like: Welcome to GitLab, @<your-GitLab-username>!

# 3. Install cob-cli

The cob-cli tool is primarily designed for Unix-based systems. However, Windows users can seamlessly utilize the tool by leveraging the (Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL Installation Guide (opens new window).

TIP

In WSL, for installing Node.js, we recommend using nvm (opens new window).

sudo apt update
sudo apt -y upgrade

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.5/install.sh | bash
source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh
nvm install 16.20.2  && nvm alias default 16.20.2 && nvm use default

To finalize the installation process, simply execute the following commands in a terminal:

  1. Run npm install -g cob-cli.
  2. Type cob-cli help to verify that cob-cli has been installed correctly.

# 4. Register your public key.

To access any <server_name>.cultofbits.com server, you must request authorization. Please reach out through the appropriate channels and provide the following information:

  • Name
  • Email
  • Company
  • Public key
  • Server name to access

You will be notified once your access is granted, along with the username to use for connecting to the servers.

# 5. Configure SSH connection

Next, you need to configure your SSH connection by editing (or creating, if it doesn’t exist) the file ~/.ssh/config. Add the following lines to the file, ensuring that the indentation on lines 2 to 5 is preserved:

Host *.cultofbits.com
   User <your username>
   Port 40022
   AddKeysToAgent yes
   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

After configuring the ~/.ssh/config file, you should be able to run the following command without needing to provide additional information, other than your private key passphrase if you set one.

ssh <server_name>.cultofbits.com

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