SmoothWall.org has shiny new website

Fri 13 Nov 2009

Have a look see.

 

Advert Filtering Video Redux

Tue 5 Nov 2009

I was sent this YouTube Guardian advert filtering video also and I liked it so here it is. Not only are adverts removed in the page but also the 1 min of adverts video are removed and it skips straight to the TV one wants to watch!

 

Advert Filtering Video

Tue, 29 Sep 2009

I was sent this Guardian advert filtering video and I liked it so here it is. What it shows is a web page full of adverts then it fades to the same page when using Guardian advert filtering. It then rewinds and shows this again once more.

 

Are you IPv6 Ready?

Tue, 7 Jul 2009

DansGuardian.org for some time now has been accessible via IPv6. It even has an IPv6 only deligated DNS server and full IPv6 reverse-IP. Are you IPv6 Ready?

 

DansGuardian 2.10.1.1 is released!

Fri, 5 Jun 2009

This a bug fix release. Details are on the history page. Go to the download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.10.0.3 is released!

Wed, 21 Jan 2009

This a bug fix release. Details are on the history page. Go to the download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.10.0.2 is released!

Wed, 26 Nov 2008

This a bug fix release. Details are on the history page. Go to the download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.10.0.1 is released!

Tue, 21 Oct 2008

This a bug fix release. Details are on the history page. Go to the download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.10 is released!

Wed, 08 Oct 2008

Daniel Barron and Philip Allison release DansGuardian 2.10 - the first new stable-tagged version since August 2005. It is the first version to be tagged stable from the 2.9 development branch which has been in development for over three and a half years.

DansGuardian 2.10 has had a plethora of features added since 2.8 and these are some of the highlights:

• Built-in content scanner plugin system which includes AV scanning.
• NTLM and persistent connection support.
• Header analysis and manipulation so you can manipulate cookies
• Large file (2GB+) download & scanning support
• Autotools build system
• URL regular expression replacement so you can force safe search in Google
• Deep URL scanning to spot URLs in URLs to for example block images in Google images
• Advanced advert blocking
• Many performance improvements
• Updates to handle all current web technology trends
• Blanket SSL blocking so you can block SSL anonymous proxies and allow access to legitimate SSL sites such as banking by whitelisting

About DansGuardian:
DansGuardian is an award winning Open Source web content filter which runs on most modern Unix-like operating systems including Linux and Mac OS X. It is a system daemon provided in source code format along with the scripts to compile it. The target users are system administrators and developers. DansGuardian is the web content filtering engine only. Many products including SmoothWall's Network Guardian use it as a central component of the software. DansGuardian provides true web content filtering by examining the actual content of the pages and headers and not simply blocking on an out-of-date-as-soon-as-released URL list like most competitors.

About Daniel Barron (CTO and Technical Director of SmoothWall):
Daniel Barron is the original author and inventor of DansGuardian and was the developer and maintainer up until just after the start of version 2.9. Since then he has been involved in the higher level direction as well as basic sysadmin of DansGuardian. He is the CTO and Technical Director of SmoothWall (smoothwall.com) and, in his spare time, the Guild Barron of Senatus Redux (senatus.nl).

About Philip Allison (Senior Developer at SmoothWall):
Philip has been working on DansGuardian since 2005 as his day job at SmoothWall. He is the principal developer and also the key representative on the DansGuardian mailing list.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.9.8 is released!

Thu, 11 Sep 2008

This a bug fix release. Details are on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.9.7 is released!

Mon, 18 Aug 2008

This fixes a small bug with PID file creation. Details are on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.9.6 is released!

Wed, 13 Aug 2008

This release fixes a few bugs and tidies up the build tools a little. Details are on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

RSS feed fixed again

Tue, 10 Jun 2008

It should be working again now.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.9.5 is released!

Mon, 9 Jun 2008

This release adds a few minor features. Details are on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.9.4 is released!

Tue, 29 Apr 2008

This is a bug fix release and is updated to include support for later versions of clamav. Details are on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

RSS Feed fixed

Thu, 13 Mar 2008

The news RSS feed has apparently been broken for a long time. Someone pointed it out finally and it's been fixed.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.9.3 is released

Wed, 27 Feb 2008

This is a bug fix release however it does introduce support for files over 2Gb. Details are on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.9.2 is released

Thu, 13 Dec 2007

This is a bug fix release. It fixes a number of important bugs. Details are on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

No longer do Paul's eyes bleed

Fri, 23 Nov 2007

Today Paul, a UK based DJ and web developer, said that "No longer does the DansGuardian site make my eyes bleed when I visit it due to lack of CSS". I would like to thank Paul for the changes to add CSS.

 

DansGuardian.org moves to a new server

Tue, 13 Nov 2007

The main dansguardian.org website was moved today to a new server hosted by Bytemark.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.9.1 is released

Fri, 24 Aug 2007

This is a bug fix release. Details on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.9.0 is released

Mon, 13 Aug 2007

This is a bug fix, performance, and feature, release. Details on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

Content Filtering Whitepaper

Mon, 16 Apr 2007

Philip Allison has written, with layout and editing by Moira Dunne, a whitepaper entitled "Meeting the Challenges of Web Content Filtering". It covers how to stop users from bypassing your web filter. Although it talks about the SmoothWall version of DansGuardian it is relevant to all true web content filters, especially DansGuardian.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.8.5 is released

Tue, 27 Mar 2007

This is a bug fix release. Details on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.8.2 is released

Mon, 22 Jan 2007

This is a bug fix issue but it does fix a serious bug with the content filtering introduced last version so I strongly recommend you upgrade! Details on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.8.1 is released

Mon, 25 Sep 2006

This is mainly a bug fix issue. Details on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

IMSpector - A natural companion

Mon, 16 Oct 2006

Check out IMSpector - a transparent instant messaging proxy with the ability to log to files and databases and supports MSN, ICQ and AIM. Written by the person who wrote the original SmoothWall Firewall (Lawrence Manning) and Open Source too. It is a natural companion to DansGuardian.

 

DansGuardian 2.9 goes BETA - version 2.9.8.0 released

Mon, 25 Sep 2006

DansGuardian 2.9 is now considered beta quality. This means all planned new features are complete and currently all known bugs and issues are resolved. It will stay considered beta until long enough time has passed to prove it is reliable enough to be classed as Stable. If you have not yet upgraded from version 2.8 then you might want to consider doing this now. This version is used by industry giants such as SmoothWall Ltd already and brings along features such as compatability with NTLM, plugin content scanning such as anti-virus scanning and many more. Details on the history page. Go to the beta download page to get it.

 

New Florida mirror

Tue, 15 Aug 2006

Thanks to DataPowerHost.com we have a nice new Florida mirror. You can see it on the download page.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.7.5 is released!

Wed, 08 August 2006

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. Details on the history page. This version has a number small bugs corrected but most notably fixes a problem with heavy cpu usage introduced in a recent update.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.7.3 is released!

Thu, 03 August 2006

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. Details on the history page. This version has a number small bugs corrected.

 

Registrations page fixed

Tue, 02 August 2006

The register page has been fixed. It was a problem with a default rule on the router blocking port 80. This also affected other feedback forms on the site. If you submitted a comment recently and got an error then please resubmit.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.7.2 is released!

Fri, 28 July 2006

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. Details on the history page. This version has a number small bugs corrected.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.7.1 is released!

Thu, 8 June 2006

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. Details on the history page. This version has a number small bugs corrected.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.7.0 is released!

Mon, 8 May 2006

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. Details on the history page. This version has a number of bugs and issues resolved but the main thing is the ICAP support has been enhanced and tested with a number of different servers. The latest phrase lists are also included.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.6.2 is released!

Mon, 3 Apr 2006

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. Details on the history page. This version fixes a few minor bugs but also notably the problem with IE and SSL.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.6.1 is released!

Fri, 3 Mar 2006

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. Details on the history page. This version fixes a few important bugs.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.6.0 is released!

Mon, 20 Feb 2006

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. Details on the history page. This version fixes a few bugs and also adds more features.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.5.0 is released!

Thu, 2 Feb 2006

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. Details on the history page. This version fixes a few memory leaks but still has more features planned so it is still considered alpha. Upgrading from previous 2.9 versions is strongly recommended.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.4.0 is released!

Wed, 25 Jan 2006

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. Details on the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.3.1 is released!

Fri, 16 Dec 2005

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. This version fixes a number of bugs and is certainly reliable enough now for serious deployment investigation. Details on the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.3.0 is released!

Tue, 06 Dec 2005

Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. This version adds key features like persistent connection support and the ability to decode NTLM auth as it passes through.

 

DansGuardian 2.9.0.1 is released!

Wed, 19 Oct 2005

After over 2 years of waiting the next major version is ready for people to test. Go to the download page to get it. It is located in the Alpha section. This version is a massive leap in features including integrated anti-virus filtering. For full details please see this announcement. Enjoy!

 

Work with Dan again!

Fri, 7 Oct 2005

There is yet another position open to work on firewall and web content filtering technologies including DansGuardian itself. In addition SmoothWall are looking for a Perl and Database Junior Developer. Both positions are in Southampton, England. The developer who was taken on in August has been busy working on DansGuardian 2.9 and we hope to have an alpha release coming soon!

 

DansGuardian 2.8.0.6 is released

Sun, 14 Aug 2005

Go to the download page to get it. This release contains bug fixes including compile issues on Fedora Core 4 as well as a massively updated set of content filtering phrase lists. Details on the history page.

 

Florida Librarian Suspended for not using DansGuardian

Sat, 13 Aug 2005

A Florida librarian was suspended for not doing enough to prevent library patrons from surfing pornography. DansGuardian is used in many, many libraries completely free of charge and is clasified as CIPA compliant by the Washington State Library. If they find DansGuardian too complex to install there is always the official commercial version.

 

New Philippine mirror

Mon, 8 Aug 2005

Thanks to EVISNet we have a nice new Philippine mirror. You can see it on the download page.

 

Work with Dan!

Mon, 25 Jul 2005

There is a position open for a graduate developer to work on firewall and web content filtering technologies including DansGuardian itself.

 

Mirroring code updated

Thu, 21 Jul 2005

We seem to have had a lot of downtime with the main website and currently 3 of the mirrors are not functioning so I have updated the mirror code to reflect the status on the download page.

 

LUGRadio Live 2005 'Lightning Talk' to download

Tue, 19 July 2005

You can now download a transcript, studio audio recording or live video from the LUGRadio Live 2005 retrospective. The talk was about DansGuardian, SmoothWall, Open Source and what 'Free' means and where 'Free Software' can reduce a peoples' freedom.

 

Daniel to give 'Lightning Talk' at LUGRadio Live 2005

Fri, 8 Apr 2005

 

DansGuardian 2.8.0.4 is released

Sun, 20 Feb 2005

Go to the download page to get it. This release contains only bug fixes, however a number of important issues are resolved so it is quite a good idea to upgrade. Details on the history page.

 

Support DansGuardian Main Author

Mon, 8 Nov 2004

Support the main DansGuardian author in my day job by voting for SmoothWall in the SC Magazine Global Awards. SmoothWall contributes many man weeks of development time back to DansGuardian work and also pays my wages. Hurry as the voting will close soon. Vote for Best VPN and Best Firewall and Best Content Filtering. We all know DansGuardian provides the best content filter of any product Open Source or not. Corporate Guardian uses the DansGuardian engine so of course it's the best of the nominees.

 

DansGuardian 2.8.0.3 is released

Fri, 10 September 2004

Go to the download page to get it. 2.8.0.3 contains only bug fixes. For more information on the changes see the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.8.0.2 is released

Thu, 29 July 2004

Go to the download page to get it. 2.8.0.2 contains only bug fixes. For more information on the changes see the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.8.0.1 is released

Wed, 28 July 2004

Go to the download page to get it. 2.8.0.1 contains only bug fixes. For more information on the changes see the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.8 goes STABLE!

Wed, 21 July 2004

You can view the full announcement here. DansGuardian 2.8 has been 15 months in development and testing and is finally ready for production servers. It contains many new features over version 2.6 which was the last stable version. Go to the download page to get it.

 

DansGuardian featured on Slashdot

Thu, 1 July 2004

OK, not DansGuardian itself but a front page article called "A parent's Guide to Linux Web Filtering" which features DansGuardian. Nice. The original article is here.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.7-9 is released

Mon, 14 June 2004

Go to the download page to get it. 2.7.7-9 contains only a few bug fixes. For more information on the changes see the history page. Also new are RSS feeds for the mailing lists.

 

DansBack

Mon, 7 June 2004

I am back from the honeymoon and other organisational matters. Thanks also goes to the one DansGuardian user who bought an item from the wedding list :)

 

DansWedding

Sat, 15 May 2004

Today Jade and I got married. The Gift List will be open for 2 more weeks (list no. 92847, no pass) incase anyone wants to send us that little something ;)

 

DansGuardian 2.7.7-6 and 2.6.1-13 are released

Wed, 14 Apr 2004

Go to the download page to get them. These releases are only bug fix releases however a filtering bypass hole is plugged so it's a good idea to upgrade. Details on the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.7-5 is released

Fri, 26 Mar 2004

Go to the download page to get it. This release contains quite a few bug and security fixes and new features over 2.7.6-7. Details on the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.6.1-12 is released

Wed, 25 Feb 2004

Go to the download page to get it. 2.6.1-12 contains only a minor security fix.

 

Support DansGuardian Author

Wed, 25 Feb 2004

Support the DansGuardian author in his day job by voting for the most excellent firewall SmoothWall in the SC Magazine Global Awards. You know it's the best anyway! Hurry only a few days left for voting! (Update: They 404'ed the link after the competition closed so I've updated it).

 

Mailing list hits 1001 members!

Thu, 19 Feb 2004

The mailing list today has reached 1001 members. This is the first time this has happened and is a testament to the success of the DansGuardian project and Open Source in general. The list was started on 14th January 2001 and has increased at a steady pace until the last few months when membership seems to have been exponential. I would like to offer my thanks to the many people on the list who take time out to help others and I welcome any new mailing list members. The list is the primary source of support for anything DansGuardian related.

 

Main DansGuardian web server moving IP

Mon, 16 Feb 2004

The main DansGuardian web server will be down over the next couple of days as the DNS changes propagate. Please use one of the mirror servers. I apologise for the inconvenience.

 

Main DansGuardian web server is down

Fri, 13 Feb 2004

The main DansGuardian web server is down due to power failure. Unfortunately with it being the start of the weekend it won't be up again until Monday. Please use one of the mirror servers.

 

DansGuardian author attending SmoothWall Express Launch Party

Sat, 17 Jan 2004

I (Daniel Barron) will be attending the SmoothWall Express Launch Party on 31st January 2004 in Birmingham, UK. Read the Press Release for more details on the SmoothWall event.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.6-7 is released and goes beta

Sat, 3 Jan 2004

Go to the download page to get it. This release is only a bug fix release. Details on the history page. The DansGuardian 2.7.x branch can now be considered beta quality. 2.7.x was released some time ago and has gone though extensive testing so it has been decided to upgrade it from alpha to beta. The 2.7 branch contains many improvements over the 2.6 branch and is much more suitable for large scale deployments with its improved process model.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.6-6 and 2.6.1-11 are released

Wed, 24 Dec 2003

Go to the download page to get them. These releases are only bug fix releases to resolve a few minor bugs. Details on the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.6-5 is released

Sun, 14 Dec 2003

Go to the download page to get it. This release is only a bug fix release to resolve a segfault when using gentle restart in some situations.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.6-4 and 2.6.1-10 are released

Thu, 11 Dec 2003

Go to the download page to get then. Both are security bug fix releases to fix a cross site scripting vuln and an even better solution to the '//' URL filtering bypass. Details on the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.6-3 and 2.6.1-9 are released

Thu, 4 Dec 2003

Go to the download page to get then. Both are security bug fix releases to fix a new URL filtering bypass with a period after the domain.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.6-2 and 2.6.1-8 are released

Thu, 4 Dec 2003

Go to the download page to get then. Both are bug fix releases to fix false positives in URL checking introduced in the last version.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.6-1 and 2.6.1-7 are released

Wed, 3 Dec 2003

Go to the download page to get then. 2.7.6-1 is mainly a bug fix version but now includes the ability to bind to a low port when not running as root. Get the full details on the history page. 2.7.6-1 can be considered nearly beta quality. 2.6.1-7 is considered stable quality.

 

New Security News section of the web site

Wed, 26 Nov 2003

I have added a Security News section which takes a feed from the SmoothWall security news feed. It is the first part of new developments on this site to add more content that is not DansGuardian related but is quite likely to be of interest to DansGuardian users. Also check out the news feeds above!

 

DansGuardian 2.7.6 and 2.6.1-6 are released

Thu, 20 Nov 2003

Go to the download page to get them. 2.6.1-6 contains only a single bug fix. 2.7.6 contains a plethora of bug fixes and improvements. Get the full details on the history page.

 

Favourable article in PCW Mag

Mon, 17 Nov 2003

Have a look at a scan of the PCW mag review provided kindly by Simon Faulkner in PDF format. (Warning 4Mb). Ideally go out and buy a copy of the Jan 2004 issue for supporting Open Source products. See my response here.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.5 is released

Sun, 16 Nov 2003

Go to the download page to get it. 2.7.5 has many new exciting features. Get the full details on the history page. Consider this version to be alpha quality.

 

DansWife Version 1.0 planned for release in 2004

Thu, 30 Oct 2003

I have asked Jade to marry me. She accepted and we are getting married next year. Not really DansGuardian news but who cares! :-)

 

DansGuardian 2.7.5 expected November 2003

Wed, 29 Oct 2003

A super new version I am working on will be released soon. Exact details depend on what I can fit in but I have already got some pretty cool stuff working including an official per-user implementation and dramatically improved restart speed. Watch this space!

 

DansGuardian.org moves to new ISP

Wed, 17 Sep 2003

The DansGuardian server has physically moved to a T1 kindly donated by Chris Dunbar. I thank Carrollton City Schools for their free hosting for the last year and a half. There will be some downtime as the DNS TTLs expire.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.3-1 and 2.6.1-5 are released

Wed, 10 Sep 2003

Go to the download page to get them. 2.6.1-5 and 2.7.3-1 contains only a single bug fix. Get the full details on the history page.

 

And the winner is....

Mon, 1 Sep 2003

Paul

 

DansGuardian 2.7.3 and 2.6.1-4 are released

Sun, 31 Aug 2003

Go to the download page to get them. 2.6.1-4 contains only minor bug fixes. 2.7.3 adds many new features such as the ability to apply normal filtering to whitelisted sites when in blanket block mode. Get the full details on the history page.

 

Goodbye and hello to usmirror

Sat, 30 Aug 2003

We have had to say goodbye to the only full site UK mirror due to changing circumstances of the donator. However we now have a nice new US mirror thanks to Kevin Johnson. Get the full list on the mirrors page.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.2 is released

Wed, 30 Jul 2003

Go to the download page to get it. This version has many new features including HP-UX support, multiple instance support and lots more. Get the full details on the history page. This version is considered alpha not beta due to the large code change from the last version. Hense, you will find it in the alpha section of the downloads.

 

Design an 'Access Denied Page' competition!

Sat, 19 Jul 2003

 

DansGuardian 2.7.1-4 BETA and 2.6.1-3 STABLE released

Sat, 12 Jul 2003

Go to the download page to get them. Get the full details on the history page. This is the first time the 2.6.x tree has been considered STABLE. All known bugs and issues have been resolved and all users using earlier versions are recommended to upgrade. The 2.6.x tree is much faster than earlier versions due to its URL cache. The 2.7.x tree is now out of alpha and into beta and brave admins are recommended to upgrade to this version as it again is much faster utilising a fork pool process model that halves CPU usage and increases scaleability substantially. You can see the mailing list announcement here.

 

How I did it

Sat, 12 Jul 2003

The How I did it page is finally complete. Those wanting to tread the same path and are just starting out in Linux or indeed Unix-like programming may find it interesting.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.1-1 and 2.6.1-1 are released

Fri, 13 Jun 2003

Go to the download page to get them. These versions fix issues with Ident.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.1 is released

Mon, 12 May 2003

Go to the download page to get it. This version adds image replacement and some back end improvements. Get the full details on the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.6.1 is released

Mon, 12 May 2003

Go to the download page to get it. This is mainly a bug fix version. Get the full details on the history page.

 

Favorable article

Sun, 20 Apr 2003

As meantioned by Fr Visminlu and James Pattie, there is a recent article on web filtering with Open Source that DansGuardian gets a pretty favourable mention.

 

DansGuardian 2.7.0 alpha is released

Fri, 18 Apr 2003

Go to the download page to get it. This version contains many improvements such as fork pooling to almost halve cpu usage and improve scaleability as well as improved foreign language support. Get the full details on the history page.

 

DansGuardian 2.6.0 ready for testing

Mon, 14 Apr 2003

Go to the download page to get it. Full stable release of this version will be once testing reports are in. This version fixes a whole host of bugs in 2.5.3-4.