LEAF Project
The LEAF (Linux Embedded Appliance Framework) Project is 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, it is primarily used as an Internet gateway, router, firewall, and wireless access point. It began as a fork from the Linux Router Project (LRP) "linux-on-a-floppy" distribution. Most users of this distribution are primarily interested in router and firewall functions, particularly as combined with the convenience of major features of general Linux distributions such as shells, packet filtering, SSH servers, DNS services, file servers, webmin and the like. LEAF is a common choice when commercial NAT routers are insufficiently flexible or secure, or are unattractively nonconformant to open source philosophy.
| LEAF (Linux Embedded Appliance Framework) Project | |
|---|---|
| Stable release | Bering-uClibc 7.5.1
/ 27 September 2025[1] |
| Written in | Bourne shell |
| License | GNU General Public License |
| Website | leaf.sourceforge.net |
The LEAF (Linux Embedded Appliance Framework) Project is 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, it is primarily used as an Internet gateway, router, firewall, and wireless access point. It began as a fork from the Linux Router Project (LRP) "linux-on-a-floppy" distribution.[2][3] Most users of this distribution are primarily interested in router and firewall functions, particularly as combined with the convenience of major features of general Linux distributions such as shells, packet filtering, SSH servers, DNS services, file servers, webmin and the like. LEAF is a common choice when commercial NAT routers are insufficiently flexible or secure, or are unattractively nonconformant to open source philosophy.[citation needed]
Characteristics
[edit]LEAF is capable of running a powerful NAT firewall with several ancillary services on computer hardware generally considered obsolete, such as 486 workstations with no hard disk.
LEAF is intended to work well with read-only storage media, such as write-protected floppy drives or optical discs. Distribution sizes range from a single floppy disk to several hundred megabytes.
LEAF distributions typically include software designed to be economical in executable size, such as uClibc, BusyBox, Dropbear, and Shorewall.
LEAF's origins lie in Debian Sarge, though many boot processes and daemon control mechanisms have been modified heavily.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Bering-uClibc 7.2.x - Changelog". Retrieved 2025-04-06.
- ^ Weeks, Roger (2004). Linux unwired. Edd Dumbill, Brian Jepson. Sebastopol, Calif.: O'Reilly. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-4919-9474-0. OCLC 177673348.
- ^ Barken, Lee (2004). How secure is your wireless network? : safeguarding your Wi-Fi-LAN. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR. p. 105. ISBN 0-13-140206-4. OCLC 52638748.
External links
[edit]- LEAF Linux Embedded Appliance Framework project documentation
- LEAF Linux Embedded Appliance Framework project homepage at sourceforge
- LEAF Linux Embedded Appliance Framework page at Ohloh Archived 2011-12-07 at the Wayback Machine
- An article at LWN.net discussing LRP/LEAF as an example of underappreciated free software
- An article from Network World listing LEAF as one of "25 free open source projects IT pros will love" Archived 2012-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
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