Invites

SparkleShare can link to a host with a click of a button. It can open small .xml files called "invites" issued by hosts to link up with a host without users having to enter any configuration. When the user accepts an invite, SparkleShare is automatically configured to use a repository, and the user's public key is automatically uploaded.

When SparkleShare is running, it will open any file linked to with the sparkleshare:// protocol handler. For example, on a web page:

<a href="sparkleshare://path/to/the/invite.xml">Click here to add this project to SparkleShare</a>

SparkleShare will strip off the sparkleshare:// and replace it by https://.

This is what an invite file looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sparkleshare>
  <invite>
    <address>ssh://[email protected]/</address>
    <remote_path>/hbons/Stuff</remote_path>
    <fingerprint>16:27:ac:a5:76:28:2d:36:63:1b:56:4d:eb:df:a6:48</fingerprint>
    <accept_url>https://www.sparkleshare.org/accept.php</accept_url> // Optional
    <announcements_url>tcp://notifications.sparkleshare.org:1986</announcements_url> // Optional
  </invite>
</sparkleshare>

Invite file names must end with the ".xml" extension. address and remote_path are the values you would normally fill in into the "Add Remote Project" window. accept_url is the url SparkleShare sends the user's public key to using HTTP POST (var named "public_key"). You want to make sure this url is only valid for a short period of time and uses HTTP Secure.

Systems that have SparkleShare installed listen to the sparkleshare:// protocol handler. This way you can simply point to your invite file on the web, and the SparkleShare client will handle the rest. For example:

In 0.9.1 it is also possible to use the sparkleshare-unsafe:// protocol handler this will get the invite file over http. This should only be used for development purposes, since this will reveal the whole URL to someone in between you and the server.

<a href="sparkleshare-unsafe://path/to/the/invite.xml">Click here to add this project to SparkleShare</a>

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Manually download the invite file.

It is possible to make SparkleShare download the invite file manually(In case the protocol handlers don't work)

Linux

> sparkleshare open sparkleshare://domain/invite.xml
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100   261  100   261    0     0    825      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  1000

Windows

> cd "C:\Program Files\SparkleShare"
> SparkleShareInviteOpener.exe http://domain/invite.xml
Downloaded invite:  http://domain/invite.xml