filtergen - packet filter compiler

filtergen [ -h | --help ] [ -V | --version ] [ -c | --compile ] [ -t target | --target=target ] [ -o outfile | --output=outfile ] infile

filtergen [ -h | --help ] [ -V | --version ] [ -c | --compile ] [ -t target | --target=target ] [ -o outfile | --output=outfile ] [ -F policy | --flush=policy ]

filtergen compiles a high-level filtering description language into a variety of target formats.

filtergen reads the ruleset from the infile specified on the command line (or standard input if infile is "-") and outputs to standard output (or outfile) via an optionally specified backend.

Both short and GNU-style long option options are accepted:

-c, --compile

Only try to "compile" the input, and do not generate any output. This may be useful to check that an input file has no syntax errors in it before one attempts to use the result on a live server.

-t target-filter, --target=target-filter

If specified, target-filter will be used to select an output filter type, otherwise the default of iptables will be used. Supported backends are iptables, ipchains, ipfilter and cisco (for Cisco IOS access-lists).

-F policy, --flush=policy

Flush mode. Generate a set of rules for clearing all rules from the packet filter. Useful for firewall scripts that need to `shutdown' the firewall. You can supply a policy argument in place of the usual filename, to specify whether the flushed filter should default to accept, reject, or drop. It defaults to accept, equivalent to having no filter loaded at all. It is not necessary to specify an infile when using flush mode.

-o outfile, --output=outfile

Write output to outfile instead of standard output.

-h, --help

Show command help.

-V, --version

Show program version.

Not all backends implement all features.

The packet filter is not optimised.

fgadm(8), filter_syntax(5), filter_backends(7)

filtergen was originally written by Matthew Kirkwood. Jamie Wilkinson <jaq@spacepants.org> then rewrote a lot of the internals, added some features, and took on maintenance of the project.