Taskd - ArchWiki

# Taskd

taskd is a lightweight, secure server providing multi-user, multi-client access to task data. This allows true syncing between desktop and mobile clients.

## Server

### Installation

taskd is available in the AUR as taskdAUR and taskd-gitAUR.

### Setup

Once taskd is installed, you need to set it up. The first step is to

    export TASKDDATA=/var/lib/taskd

(otherwise you need to append `--data /var/lib/taskd` to every taskd command).

Next, edit the `/usr/share/doc/taskd/pki/vars` file. The `CN=` line must either match the server's hostname or IP address, depending on how you connect. Once the file is edited to your heart's content, run `/usr/share/doc/taskd/pki/generate`. This will create selfsigned certificates for your server. Copy all generated *.pem-files to `/var/lib/taskd`. Note that at least the ca.cert.pem must remain in the pki folder for the user-certificate generation later on.

Now you need to configure the taskd config. This can be done by either using `taskd config` or editing `/var/lib/taskd/config` directly.

    taskd config --force client.cert $TASKDDATA/client.cert.pem
    taskd config --force client.key $TASKDDATA/client.key.pem
    taskd config --force server.cert $TASKDDATA/server.cert.pem
    taskd config --force server.key $TASKDDATA/server.key.pem
    taskd config --force server.crl $TASKDDATA/server.crl.pem
    taskd config --force ca.cert $TASKDDATA/ca.cert.pem

Additionally you should change where taskd logs to, since the default is /tmp/log. This can be done by running

    touch /var/log/taskd.log
    chown taskd:taskd /var/log/taskd.log
    taskd config --force log /var/log/taskd.log

The last step is to set taskd's server name, which must be the same as the one used in the certificates: `taskd config --force server servername:port`. Note that taskd has no default port and it must be set manually.

### Adding a user in taskd

taskd knows about groups and users, and each user must be in a group. The group- and usernames can be whatever you want.

    taskd add org group
    taskd add user group username

Note the key the last command returns, the user will need it to synchronize.

Make sure new group and user are readable by user taskd.

    chown -R taskd:taskd /var/lib/taskd/orgs

Return to `/usr/share/doc/taskd/pki/` and run

    ./generate.client username

This will return username.cert.pem and username.key.pem. The username.key.pem, username.cert.pem and ca.cert.pem must be added to the user's `~/.task` directory.

## Client

### User configuration

Once the *.pem files are added to `~/.task`, they must be added to the task config, along with the servername and unique ID.

    task config taskd.certificate ~/.task/username.cert.pem
    task config taskd.key ~/.task/username.key.pem
    task config taskd.ca ~/.task/ca.cert.pem
    task config taskd.server servername:port
    task config taskd.credentials group/username/key

After you're done, check the config file. task likes to escape slashes.

After running a `task sync init`, the user is able to synchronize taskwarrior whereever pleased.

### Using the Android Taskwarrior app

Before you even download the android app, you need to create a folder. On your external storage (or if you only have an internal one, then there) create the folder `Android/data/kvj.taskw/files/key` where "key" is the same as the key given when creating the user in taskd. Then add the username.key.pem, username.cert.pem and ca.cert.pem files to that folder. Create a new file in that folder called `.taskrc.android`. It should look like this:

    taskd.server=servername:port
    taskd.credentials=group/username/key
    taskd.certificate=username.cert.pem
    taskd.key=username.key.pem
    taskd.ca=ca.cert.pem

Now download the app and start it. When adding a profile, choose the datafolder you just created. Taskwarrior should now sync and work as expected.

## Troubleshooting

### Unreachable Server

Should the server be unreachable but running, it bound itself to an IPv6 address. You can force IPv4 by adding `family=IPv4` to `/var/lib/taskd/config`. Restart taskd afterwards.

### "Bad Key"

If the server responds with a "Bad Key" error even though you just generated them, check the permissions of the created folders (everything in `/var/lib/taskd/` and subfolders). taskd doesn't set it's own uid / gid, so those folders must be manually chowned to taskd.

Category:

- Networking