rulesd

Rulesd is a name used by several unrelated software projects to denote a daemon responsible for managing and applying rule sets to a system's security or policy enforcement mechanisms. Because there is no single canonical project called rulesd, the exact features vary by implementation, but common goals include centralized rule management, validation, and hot-reloading.

Typical functionality includes reading rule definitions from files or remote sources, validating syntax and semantics, applying rules to the target subsystem (such as a firewall or policy engine), and logging changes. Many implementations support atomic updates and rollback in case applying a new ruleset fails, as well as versioning or diff-based reloading to minimize disruption. Some rulesd daemons provide a small scripting interface or API to integrate with configuration management tools.

Architecture and interfaces vary: some are standalone daemons that watch a directory or Git repository for changes; others are wrappers around existing firewall backends (pf, iptables, nftables) that translate the rules into the backend's native format. Cross-platform portability is often a design goal, but most rulesd projects target Unix-like systems.

Usage and scope: rulesd is commonly used in dynamic or automated environments where firewall or policy rules must be updated rapidly without manual reconfiguration. It may be part of larger systems for security orchestration, incident response, or compliance enforcement.

See also: firewall, pf, iptables, nftables, firewalld, policy daemon.