title: Tinc (protocol)
text: # Tinc (protocol)
  
  Tinc is an open-source, self-routing, mesh networking protocol and software implementation used for compressed and encrypted virtual private networks. It was started in 1998 by Guus Sliepen, Ivo Timmermans, and Wessel Dankers, and released as a GPL-licensed project.
  
  ## Platforms
  
  Tinc is available on Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Solaris, iOS (jailbroken only), Android with full support for IPv6.
  
  ## Future goals
  
  The authors of Tinc have goals of providing a platform that is secure, stable, reliable, scalable, easily configurable, and flexible.
  
  ## Embedded technologies
  
  Tinc uses OpenSSL or LibreSSL as the encryption library and gives the options of compressing communications with zlib for "best compression" or LZO for "fast compression".
  
  ## Projects that use tinc
  
  * Freifunk has tinc enabled in their routers as of October 2006.
  * OpenWrt has an installable package for tinc.
  * OPNsense, an open source router and firewall distribution, has a plugin for Tinc
  * pfSense has an installable package in the 2.3 release.
  * Tomato variants Shibby and FreshTomato include Tinc support.
  * NYC Mesh uses tinc to connect parts of the mesh over the public internet that would be otherwise out of range.
  