LEAF Linux Embedded Appliance Framework

A secure, feature-rich, customizable embedded Linux network appliance

Brought to you by: blusseau, cstein, davidmbrooke, etitl, and 3 others

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Last Update: 2025-04-10

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A secure, feature-rich, customizable embedded Linux network appliance for use in a variety of network topologies. Although it can be used in other ways; its primarily used as a Internet gateway, router, firewall, and wireless access point.

LEAF documentation wiki
http://bering-uclibc.zetam.org

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License

GNU General Public License version 2.0 (GPLv2), MIT License

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jnorthe Posted 2018-03-25

I'm a fan of LEAF since version 2.x and in my opinion it is a totally underestimated project. With this framework it is possible to build a fully featured smart linux server with all of the well known features and lots more or a minimalistic secure firewall even without web or ssh access simply managed via serial terminal. With the shorewall package you can cover almost every scenario. The appliance requires fundamental linux knowledge and of course the knowledge of the service which you choose to run on your box. Unpacking the selected packages into memory and running the system in memory offers you outstanding performance and always having the configuration backup on storage device - if you do not forget to save your configuration changes :) Regarding the support I can say that I always got solutions to my problems within several hours - even for feature requests like feeding dhcpd server configuration and records from LDAP server. Thanks a lot to the project!
aladdinsane Posted 2011-12-29

I started using Linux in late 1998. I started using LEAF (as LRP) in about May 2000. I tracked down the original article I read, that was the inspiration for my project: "Linux Firewall On A 486: A Guard-Penguin For Your DSL Or Cable Modem Connection" By Eric House & Henry Kingman http://web.archive.org/web/20000510042003/http://www.zdnet.com/zdhelp/stories/main/0,5594,2503199,00.html I recall building a Pentium I system with 12 or 24 MB of mem, one floppy drive, and two excellent identical DEC Tulip 10/100 NICs. (This is all used hardware with "new" dates ranging from 1995-1998.) No keyboard or monitor except temporarily for setup. No hard drive or other writable storage device. The hardware mostly came from Goodwill; we had a Goodwill computer outlet in our town at that time. The system has been up continuously for 11 years, except for rare power outages and upgrades. Software has been upgraded a few times, recently from LEAF Bering-uClibc 2.3.1 (2005) to 4.1.1 (2011). The inspiration for this latest software upgrade was the failure of the CD-ROM drive, and the troubleshooting I had to do to fix it. I realized my LEAF install was two major versions out of date. The hardware in my LEAF Firewall has all been upgraded: The chassis from AT to ATX, MB from Pentium I to Pentium II/III MB with a P2 333 CPU, mem to 384 MB (max for MB). Then dual floppies, then CD-ROM + floppy. Two identical Realtek Gigabit NICs are in use now. The interesting hardware upgrade was when my original P2 333 fan started buzzing, I went looking for a replacement fan for this slotted CPU. At the time, the cheapest, most expensive, and only, fan, at $10, came with a PIII 500 CPU attached to it. Nice and quiet, that P3 500 has been running at 450 MHz (max for MB) for many years, since the early 2000s. I thought I would be managing logs for this system forever, but the reality is I hardly ever look at the logs, I know the thing is doing its job, firewalling my broadband Internet connection. It just works. It has saved me great stress over the years by virtue of what I *haven't* had to do to stay secure on the Internet. Thank you, LEAF Project.

Additional Project Details

Operating Systems

uClinux, Game Consoles, Windows

Languages

French, English, German

Intended Audience

Advanced End Users, System Administrators

User Interface

Web-based, Console/Terminal

Programming Language

Unix Shell, C

Related Categories

Unix Shell Networking Software, Unix Shell Operating Systems, C Networking Software, C Operating Systems

Registered

2000-10-29

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