# PeerGuardian Linux

PeerGuardian Linux (pgl) is a privacy oriented firewall application. It blocks connections to and from hosts specified in huge block lists (thousands or millions of IP ranges). pgl is based on the Linux kernel netfilter framework and iptables.

A more native, efficient solution to achieve the same end is to use the ipset kernel module in conjunction with the pg2ipset tool and the ipset-update script.

## Installation

There are two AUR packages to choose from: pgl-cliAUR includes only the daemon and CLI tools, while pglAUR comes complete with a GUI (written using Qt).

## Configuration

- `/etc/pgl/blocklists.list` contains a list of URL for retrieving the various block lists.
- `/etc/pgl/pglcmd.conf`, empty by default, overrides the default settings present in `/usr/lib/pgl/pglcmd.defaults`.
- `/etc/pgl/allow.p2p` lists custom IP ranges that will not be filtered.

The default lists in `/etc/pgl/blocklists.list` block many potentially legitimate IP address. Users are encouraged to exercise best judgment and the information available at I-Blocklist.

It is recommended to disable the filtering of HTTP connections by adding the following to `/etc/pgl/pglcmd.conf`:

    /etc/pgl/pglcmd.conf

    WHITE_TCP_OUT="http https"

Some program might not be able to reach the outside world. For instance, users of MSN for instant messaging, will need to add port 1863 to the white list:

    /etc/pgl/pglcmd.conf

    WHITE_TCP_OUT="http https msnp"

Conversely, one could white list all the ports except the ones used by the program to be blocked. The following example only use the block lists to stop incoming traffic on ports 53 (DNS) and 80 (HTTP):

    /etc/pgl/pglcmd.conf

    WHITE_TCP_IN="0:79 81:65535"
    WHITE_UDP_IN="0:52 54:65535"

### Server

systemd initialization of the system means that it's quite possible for a server to be briefly unprotected, prior to pgl launch. To ensure adequate protection, create a service file named after the original server (i.e. `/etc/systemd/system/httpd.service` and paste the following:

    /etc/systemd/system/httpd.service

    .include /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service

    [Unit]
    Wants=pgl.service
    After=pgl.service

### LAN

By default, pgl blocks traffic on the local IPv4 addresses. To disable this behavior, edit `/etc/pgl/pglcmd.conf` to add an exception using the WHITE_IP_* setting:

    /etc/pgl/pglcmd.conf

    WHITE_IP_OUT="192.168.0.0/24"

    /etc/pgl/pglcmd.conf

    WHITE_IP_IN="192.168.0.0/24"

For further information, please refer to the `# Whitelist IPs #` section of `/usr/lib/pgl/pglcmd.defaults`.

## Starting up

Once comfortable with the configuration of both the daemon and lists, start the `pgl` service. To make sure that pgl works as intended, issue this command:

    # pglcmd test

To start pgl automatically at boot, enable the `pgl` service.

## Running pgl from within a container

Users running pgl within a Linux Container may need to modify the package included `lxc@.service` to include the loading of key modules needed by pgl.

    /etc/systemd/system/lxc@.service

    [Unit]
    Description=%i LXC
    After=network.target

    [Service]
    Type=forking
    ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/modprobe -a xt_NFQUEUE xt_mark xt_iprange
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/lxc-start -d -n %i
    ExecStop=/usr/bin/lxc-stop -n %i
    Delegate=true

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

Category:

- Firewalls