Open AirVPN

An executable for managing openvpn connections on Linux with AirVPN.

Requirements

You'll need git to clone the repo and a text editor like nano to edit the vars/vars.conf file.

Cron

You'll need cron if you want to set up a cronjob to run on startup in the way these scripts are intended to function.

To install cron on Arch Linux, use the cronie package:

sudo pacman -S cronie
sudo systemctl enable cronie

Additionally required packages for vpn functionality and vpn-serve flask server:

openvpn
openresolv
python
python-flask

Open AirVPN Setup

Subscribe to AirVPN, then download the OpenVPN configuration files:

1. Navigate to https://airvpn.org/generator/
2. Select the appropriate options. For example, "Linux, OpenVPN (TCP), Other Device"
3. Go to "By Single Servers" and Invert Selection to select all servers.
4. Click generate then download the zip, which should be called AirVPN.zip
5. Move the zip file to your desired EMPTY (will get messy) directory, for example ~/.vpn/

Setup the Scripts

Getting the Files

Ensure git is installed, then clone the git repo.

git clone https://github.com/ethmth/openair-vpn.git
cd openair-vpn/

Copy the sample vars/vars.conf.example file to vars/vars.conf and vars/install_location.conf.example to vars/install_location.conf

cp vars/vars.conf.example vars/vars.conf
cp vars/install_location.conf.example vars/install_location.conf

Edit vars/vars.conf with your desired values.

1. DIR should be the empty folder you saved AirVPN.zip into.
2. DEFAULT_FILE is the OpenVPN configuration that will be used if your last used connection isn't available, or if you specify vpn connect default. This doesn't really matter if you run vpn connect new on your first go and select your desired server, because the program will remember your last used server and connect to that one.
3. INTERFACE is your network interface (use ip a to list interfaces)
4. IFTTT_KEY, IFTTT_EVENT, IFTTT_MESSAGE are for optional IFTTT integration. To find your key, go to ifttt.com/maker_webhooks and click Documentation. It should say "Your key is: <your_key>".
5. REST_DNS is for optional, experimental Rest DNS integration.

Edit vars/install_location.conf with your desired value(s). Simply leave /usr/bin/ if you want the script to be installed globally.

When you're done editing the configuration files, install the executables to your desired location by running:

./set_vars.sh
./install_to_bin.sh

Using the Scripts

If you would like this script to run on startup, and take advantage of complete functionality, I would recommend setting up a cronjob as root/sudo.

sudo crontab -e # Edit your crontab

Then, add the following lines, replacing the directory with the directory you installed the executables into:

@reboot /usr/bin/vpn reset
@reboot /usr/bin/vpn lan off startup
@reboot /usr/bin/vpn killswitch on
@reboot /usr/bin/vpn connect startup
*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/vpn update

Your setup should be complete. Reboot to test out the setup.