9a76507b14
Two Linux packaging issues, both surfaced by the netbird-ui deb/rpm built from .goreleaser_ui.yaml. 1) License / vendor metadata ---------------------------- The nfpm entries for the UI package set only maintainer/description/ homepage, leaving the License and Vendor RPM/DEB tags empty. KDE Discover (and GNOME Software) then render the package as "Licenses: Unknown" / "Unknown author", with a scary license-warning popup on install. The daemon's main .goreleaser.yaml already set license (commit #5659) but never vendor, and the UI config was skipped entirely. Fix: add `license: BSD-3-Clause` + `vendor: NetBird` to both UI nfpm entries (deb + rpm), and `vendor: NetBird` to the daemon's deb + rpm entries for consistency. BSD-3-Clause is correct for client/ui — the repo is BSD-3-Clause except management/, signal/, relay/, combined/ (AGPLv3), none of which the UI touches. 2) KDE Wayland window/taskbar icon ---------------------------------- On KDE Plasma 6 under Wayland the app launched with the generic Wails icon in the window titlebar and the taskbar / Alt-Tab switcher, even though /usr/share/pixmaps/netbird.png (the launcher icon, resolved from the desktop entry's `Icon=netbird`) was correct. Root cause is how a Wayland compositor decides a window's icon. Unlike X11 there is no per-window _NET_WM_ICON the app can push at runtime — GTK4 even removed gtk_window_set_icon, so the embedded assets/netbird.png the binary carries is simply ignored. Instead the compositor matches the window's Wayland **app_id** to an installed .desktop file and uses that entry's `Icon=` key. The app_id is not "netbird": Wails hardcodes it as `org.wails.<name>` (pkg/application/linux_cgo.go: `fmt.Sprintf("org.wails.%s", name)`, name = sanitized Options.Name), yielding **org.wails.netbird**. There is no Wails option to override the prefix. Verified the live value on the Fedora-40 / KDE 6.3 / Wayland test VM by dumping workspace.windowList() via a KWin script: js: ZZZWIN org.wails.netbird ## NetBird KDE needs two things to associate the running window with our desktop entry and thus paint our icon: - the desktop entry's basename should equal the app_id, so the titlebar decoration (which looks the entry up by app_id -> <app_id>.desktop) finds it, and - a `StartupWMClass=<app_id>` line, which the taskbar / task switcher use to map the surface to the entry. Fix (no Wails fork needed — app_id stays org.wails.netbird, which the user never sees; only Name=NetBird and the icon are visible): - install the desktop file as `org.wails.netbird.desktop` instead of `netbird.desktop` (both deb and rpm contents in .goreleaser_ui.yaml) - add `StartupWMClass=org.wails.netbird` to client/ui/build/linux/netbird.desktop `Icon=netbird` and the pixmaps/netbird.png payload are unchanged — they were already correct. Confirmed on the test VM that both the titlebar and taskbar/Alt-Tab now show the NetBird icon.
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NetBird combines a configuration-free peer-to-peer private network and a centralized access control system in a single platform, making it easy to create secure private networks for your organization or home.
Connect. NetBird creates a WireGuard-based overlay network that automatically connects your machines over an encrypted tunnel, leaving behind the hassle of opening ports, complex firewall rules, VPN gateways, and so forth.
Secure. NetBird enables secure remote access by applying granular access policies while allowing you to manage them intuitively from a single place. Works universally on any infrastructure.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/10cec749-bb56-4ab3-97af-4e38850108d2
Self-host NetBird (video)
Key features
Quickstart with NetBird Cloud
- Download and install NetBird at https://app.netbird.io/install.
- Follow the steps to sign up with Google, Microsoft, GitHub or your email address.
- Check the NetBird admin UI.
Quickstart with self-hosted NetBird
This is the quickest way to try self-hosted NetBird. It should take around 5 minutes to get started if you already have a public domain and a VM. Follow the Advanced guide with a custom identity provider for installations with different IdPs.
Infrastructure requirements:
- A Linux VM with at least 1 CPU and 2 GB of memory.
- The VM should be publicly accessible on TCP ports 80 and 443 and UDP port 3478.
- A public domain name pointing to the VM.
Software requirements:
- Docker with the Compose plugin (Compose v2 or higher). See the Docker installation guide.
Steps
- Download and run the installation script:
export NETBIRD_DOMAIN=netbird.example.com; curl -fsSL https://github.com/netbirdio/netbird/releases/latest/download/getting-started.sh | bash
A bit on NetBird internals
- Every machine in the network runs the NetBird agent, which manages WireGuard.
- Every agent connects to the Management Service, which holds network state, manages peer IPs, and distributes updates to agents.
- Agents use ICE (via pion/ice) to discover connection candidates for peer-to-peer connections.
- Candidates are discovered with the help of STUN servers.
- Agents negotiate a connection through the Signal Service, exchanging end-to-end encrypted messages with candidates.
- When NAT traversal fails (e.g. mobile carrier-grade NAT) and a direct p2p connection isn't possible, the system falls back to a Relay Service and a secure WireGuard tunnel is established through it.
See a complete architecture overview for details.
Community projects
- NetBird installer script
- netbird-tui - terminal UI for managing NetBird peers, routes, and settings
- caddy-netbird - Caddy plugin that embeds a NetBird client for proxying HTTP and TCP/UDP traffic through NetBird networks
Note: The main branch may be in an unstable or even broken state during development.
For stable versions, see releases.
Support acknowledgement
In November 2022, NetBird joined the StartUpSecure program sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany. Together with the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, NetBird brings security best practices and simplicity to private networking.
Acknowledgements
We build on open-source technologies like WireGuard®, Pion ICE, and Rosenpass. We greatly appreciate the work these projects are doing, and we'd love it if you could support them too (e.g., by starring or contributing).
Legal
This repository is licensed under the BSD-3-Clause license, which applies to all parts of the repository except for the directories management/, signal/ and relay/. Those directories are licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3.0 (AGPLv3). See the respective LICENSE files inside each directory.
WireGuard and the WireGuard logo are registered trademarks of Jason A. Donenfeld.