FileSender

The problem

You know the problem.  You need to send a file larger than a couple of megabytes to someone and the email comes back: attachment too big.  Then what?

FileSender project

FileSender is a web based application that allows authenticated users to securely and easily send arbitrarily large files to other users. Authentication of users is provided through SAML2, LDAP and RADIUS. Users without an account can be sent an upload voucher by an authenticated user. FileSender is developed to the requirements of the higher education and research community.

The purpose of the software is to send a large file to someone, have that file available for download for a certain number of downloads and/or a certain amount of time, and after that automatically delete the file. The software is not intended as a permanent file publishing platform.

License

FileSender is released under the BSD license. It is open source software and available for free.

Availability and download

The latest production release is 1.1, released on November 5th 2011 using HTML5 for large uploads. The previous release 1.0.1, released on 18 May 2011 using the deprecated Gears plugin is also still supported. Visit the Download page for details about the general availability of the FileSender software.

Development status

We are working towards release 1.5, check the Release Schedule for the planning. The third beta release for 1.5 was released on May 15th 2012. See also the Installation notes for 1-5 development code for details on how to get and use beta/development builds.

Blog

The FileSender project has a Blog, where news and status updates are posted.

Mailing Lists

The FileSender project uses a number of mailinglists to support people deploying FileSender software and to coordinate development. Please go to the Support and Mailinglists page and subscribe yourself to those lists relevant for you.

Feature Requests

Go to Feature requests if you have a feature you would like to see added to FileSender.

Features

A snapshot of features for the latest 1.1 release is located at Features_v1-1. A snapshot of features for the previous 1.0(.x) release is located at Features_v1-0.

• share arbitrarily large files from a user to one or more other users
• integrates with various authentication mechanisms using SimpleSAMLphp (SAML2, RADIUS, LDAP)
• upload vouchers to allow users without an account to upload a file
• cancel / resume file uploads (using the HTML5 File API)
• download files multiple times, from link with built-in password in auto-generated email, or directly from the web interface by authenticated user
• automatic deletion of shared files and issued vouchers after X amount of time, or manual deletion by authenticated user any time prior to expiry
• email notification each time a file is uploaded, downloaded or manually deleted, or a voucher is issued or manually deleted
• view lists of currently shared files and unused issued vouchers
• user can resend download link emails to file recipients without re-uploading the file
• add additional recipients to already uploaded files
• UTF8 support, supports all international character sets
• builds on Flash and the HTML5 File API (as of 1.1).

FileSender's functionality is also illustrated in Workflow, and described in End_User_Documentation_for_v1-1 (snapshot of features for the previous 1.0(.x) release at End_User_Documentation_for_v1-0) and Specifications.

Requirements

A snapshot of requirements for the latest 1.1 release is located at Requirements_for_v1-1. A snapshot of requirements for the previous 1.0(.x) release is located at Requirements_for_v1-0.

Client requirements for uploads of any size

• Web browser with HTML5 FileAPI support.
• Chrome and FireFox4+ are known to work.
• Check here to monitor implementation progress of the HTML5 FileAPI for all major browsers. In particular support for FileReader API and Blob URLs needs to be light green (=supported) for a browser to support uploads larger then 2GB
• Flash Player 10.x browser plugin - required for user interface

Client requirements for uploads up to 2GB using Flash and for all downloads

• Web browser - modern release
• Flash Player 10.x browser plugin - required for user interface (for both up- and downloads). Used for uploads up to 2 GB if the browser does not support the HTML5 FileAPI

Server requirements

• 64-bit Linux
• Webserver - any webserver will do, however our documentation assumes Apache 2+; ensure that the webserver is only reachable over HTTPS and the files directory is non-exec (see the Administrator_reference_manual for more information, and the FAQ for a quite relevant entry on why self signed certificates won't easily work)
• PHP 5.2.10+ - PHP has to be 64bits aware
• PostgreSQL 8.3.9+ database - we test on 8.3.9+, but earlier versions might work
• SimpleSamlPHP 1.7.0+ - earlier versions also work (testing has been done with 1.6.x and 1.8.x).
• Mail Transport Agent (MTA) - Any decent MTA will do (Postfix, Exim, Sendmail). FileSender needs to be able to send out emails.

Documentation

Installation and administrator documentation is provided in the Documentation section

Developer

Development documentation is provided in the Developer section