Simone Margaritelli, the VP of Research at Zimperium, has created a Linux port of Little Snitch, a wildly popular macOS firewall application.

Named OpenSnitch, the Linux port works on the same principles of the macOS version, being a host-based firewall that notifies users when local apps are attempting to initiate new outgoing network connections.

Similar to Little Snitch's normal modus operandi, when this happens, OpenSnitch will display a popup, asking the user for instructions on how to deal with this new process.

All user decisions are saved as rules in local JSON files. Users can edit these rules later to fine-tune the firewall or import/export rules from/to other systems.

The app is also coded in Go and Python, comes with support for systemd, and uses a Qt5 graphical user interface.

OpenSnitch is not officially out yet, but Margaritelli suggested today on Twitter that a 1.0.0 stable release is pretty close.

setup,py for the UI is ready, systemd integration too, the 1.0.0 milestone of opensnitch is closed, anyone willing to test before the actual release?https://t.co/xIwuRXkmXC — (@evilsocket) April 10, 2018

By no means should users expect a firewall on the same level as Little Snitch, an app under development for almost a decade, but once OpenSnitch is officially launched, users should unquestionably give it a try.

Users can keep an eye on the official OpenSnitch GitHub repository for the 1.0.0 release. Sticking with the Linux mantra of openness, OpenSnitch is free software open-sourced under a GNU GPL license.