Package Manager

[temporaryuser]

Hi,

I can not find a Package Manager (and packages) in OPNsense, as pfSense has them. Does OPNsense not support such add-on packages or did I just overlook them?

Thank you
temporaryuser

[franco]

Hi there,

It's all built in in the firmware page under "plugins". The plugins repository is here: https://github.com/opnsense/plugins

There aren't many plugins yet, mainly VMware and Xen. There are also branding plugins that commercial support can offer, but these won't show up in the repository.

Since we've forked we were left with a choice of keeping PBI/Packages, or moving forward without them and we decided on the latter, stripping all support, rebuilding better pkg integration and for 16.1 we've made that a reality. This, however, hasn't magically created a flourishing plugins ecosystem. User contributions are now key, and there weren't any (official ones) yet.

Instead we focus on improving the base system. A number of popular packages are already found there since half a year or more, depending on which package we talk about.

We'll be adding IP Flow additions, more reporting solutions, creating plugins from older parts of the base system we do not see as a good fit for base installation anymore (e.g. legacy VPN such as the L2TP, PPTP and PPPoE Server), and I don't know if plugins will ever be as vivid as packages. Maybe that's a stronghold I don't want to challenge. Users will have to decide this eventually as previously mentioned.

So, in short:

Are there packages? Yes, there are plugins and there are also stock FreeBSD binary packages when no plugin is available.

Are there many plugins? No, but the most popular ones have already been incorporated in the base install.

Can I import packages from elsewhere? No, the system has been rewritten for simplicity and offers modern MVC support that can make writing a GUI fun.

What does it take to write a plugin? https://docs.opnsense.org/development/examples/helloworld.html

I apologise for addressing a larger audience with this response. I felt this was necessary as it comes up quite a bit lately. If there are more specific questions we can gladly discuss them.


Cheers,
Franco

[temporaryuser]

Hi franco,

Thank you for your detailed answer!

for 16.1 we've made that a reality. <snip>
There aren't many plugins yet <snip>
User contributions are now key, and there weren't any (official ones) yet. <snip>

I see, I wish OPNsense that some users will come along who are willing and capable of contributing some plugins, soon!

What does it take to write a plugin? https://docs.opnsense.org/development/examples/helloworld.html

Great! Thank you for this link.

Would be great if you would support Python, too, some day ;-)

I apologise for addressing a larger audience with this response. I felt this was necessary as it comes up quite a bit lately. If there are more specific questions we can gladly discuss them.

No problem at all, glad that obviously a broader user base is interested in plugins, so some first contributions might come flying in soon.

Cheers
temporaryuser