Bor documentation¶
Bor is an open-source policy management system for Linux desktops. A central server stores configuration policies and delivers them in real time to enrolled Linux endpoints. A lightweight agent on each endpoint receives the policies over an encrypted gRPC stream, enforces them locally, protects the managed files against tampering and reports compliance back to the server.
This is the official community documentation. It covers installing Bor from distribution packages, configuring the server and the agent, and managing policies through the web interface.
What Bor manages¶
| Area | Policy type |
|---|---|
| Web browsers | Firefox, Chrome and Chromium, Microsoft Edge |
| Thunderbird | |
| Desktop environments | KDE Plasma (KConfig / Kiosk), GNOME (dconf) |
| System privileges | Polkit, Session access |
| Network | Firewalld |
| Software | Flatpak, Packages and repositories |
| Data protection | Disk encryption (LUKS2) |
How it fits together¶
flowchart LR
admin(["Administrators<br/>(web browser)"])
db[("PostgreSQL")]
server["<b>bor-server</b><br/>web UI, REST API,<br/>internal CA"]
agent["<b>bor-agent</b><br/>root daemon on every<br/>managed desktop"]
local[("Policy files and<br/>system tools")]
admin -- "HTTPS (web port, 443 or 8443)" --> server
db --- server
server <== "enrollment: web port (TLS)<br/>policy stream :8444 (mTLS)" ==> agent
agent -- "enforces, watches,<br/>reports compliance" --> local
- An administrator creates policies in the web UI and releases them.
- Policies are bound to node groups.
- Each enrolled node (an endpoint running the agent) belongs to one or more node groups and receives every released policy bound to them.
- Changes reach connected agents immediately; agents that were offline catch up when they reconnect.
Read Concepts for a full explanation.
Where to start¶
- New to Bor? Follow the Quick start to get a server and a first managed desktop running.
- Planning a deployment? Check the Requirements, then install the server and deploy agents.
- Managing policies? See the User guide and the Policy types reference.
- Running Bor in production? Read Security hardening, Backup and restore and Monitoring.
License and community¶
Bor is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 or later. The source code, issue tracker and releases are on GitHub. The project website is getbor.dev.