Prebuilt Binaries (Recommended)#

Every release ships static binaries - no Go toolchain required. Download the archive for your platform from the releases page:

Unpack and put the binary on your PATH:

tar -xzf flokbn_*_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
sudo mv flokbn /usr/local/bin/
flokbn --help

Each release includes a checksums.txt; verify your download with sha256sum -c checksums.txt.

Prerequisites (building from source)#

• Go 1.23 or later (for building from source)
• Docker (optional, for containerized deployment)
• Git (for cloning the repository)

Installation from Source#

Clone the Repository#

git clone https://github.com/ChristianF88/flokbn.git
cd flokbn/flokbn/src

Build the Binary#

Basic build:

go build -o flokbn .

Build with optimizations (smaller binary, slightly faster):

go build -ldflags="-s -w" -o flokbn .

The -ldflags="-s -w" flags strip debug information and symbol tables, reducing binary size.

Verify Installation#

./flokbn --help

Install System-Wide (Optional)#

sudo mv flokbn /usr/local/bin/

Docker Installation#

Build Docker Image#

From the flokbn directory (not flokbn/src):

cd flokbn/flokbn
docker build -t flokbn .

Run Docker Container#

docker run -v /var/log:/logs flokbn static \
  --logfile /logs/nginx/access.log \
  --clusterArgSets 1000,24,32,0.1 \
  --plain

With configuration file:

docker run \
  -v /etc/flokbn:/config \
  -v /var/log:/logs \
  flokbn static --config /config/flokbn.toml --plain

See Docker Testing Guide for the full test environment.

Development Setup#

Working on flokbn itself? The Developer Guide covers dependencies, tests, static analysis, and benchmarks.

File Permissions#

flokbn needs read access to log files and write access to jail/ban files:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/flokbn /var/lib/flokbn
sudo usermod -a -G adm flokbn-user
sudo chown flokbn-user:flokbn-user /var/lib/flokbn

Platform Notes#

• Linux: No special considerations. flokbn is optimized for Linux.
• macOS: Works without issues. Use brew install go if needed.
• Windows: Use WSL2 for best compatibility.

Troubleshooting#

go: command not found - Install Go from https://golang.org/dl/

package X is not in GOROOT - Run go mod download to fetch dependencies.

permission denied reading logs - Add your user to the adm group: sudo usermod -a -G adm $USER

Cannot create jail file - Ensure the directory exists and is writable.

Next Steps#

Head over to the Quick Start to run your first analysis. For production deployment, see the Live Protection Guide.