# libreswan/libreswan

libreswan

Repository: https://github.com/libreswan/libreswan
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/libreswan
Homepage: https://libreswan.org/
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: ipsec
Last push: 2026-09-03T01:13:04+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 99/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 100, release rhythm 97, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4942, "days_push": 0, "days_rel": 20, "gap_med": 28, "n_releases_24m": 6}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1004, forks 262 (observed 2026-09-03T02:15:14.389135+00:00)

## What it is
Libreswan is a free, GPLv2-licensed implementation of the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol for setting up IPsec VPNs, supporting IKEv1 and IKEv2 with X.509 certificates and NAT traversal. It is a mature project (forked from FreeS/WAN/Openswan) that runs on Linux, the BSDs, and macOS, using the Linux XFRM stack and NSS crypto library.

## Use cases
- set up an ipsec vpn server on linux
- site-to-site vpn tunnel between offices
- ikev2 vpn with x509 certificates
- roadwarrior vpn with nat traversal
- replace openswan or strongswan for ipsec
- fips-compliant ipsec vpn gateway

## When to choose
- you need a standards-compliant IKEv1/IKEv2 IPsec implementation on Linux or BSD
- you want a mature, distribution-packaged VPN daemon (Fedora, RHEL, Debian, etc.)
- you need X.509 certificate support, NAT traversal, and FIPS mode

## When to avoid
- you want a userspace VPN like WireGuard or OpenVPN instead of kernel IPsec
- you need a cross-platform GUI VPN client for end users
- you target platforms outside Linux/BSD/macOS

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: security, cryptography, networking, vpn
- domain: security, networking, privacy
- platform: bsd, cross-platform
- tags: ipsec, ike, ikev2, vpn, x509, nss, xfrm, freeswan-fork, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- libreswan/libreswan (main) score 99

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:14.389135+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:13:45.560967+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/libreswan/libreswan (fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:14.389135+00:00, sha 0e604bf1cb0c)
  - homepage: https://libreswan.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T13:13:29.208773+00:00, sha 0fed51ea0e0c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.