| Developer(s) | Daniel Barron |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 2.10.1.1 / June 5, 2009 |
| Operating system | Unix-like |
| Type | Content-control software |
| License | GPLv2 or proprietary license |
| Website | dansguardian.org |
DansGuardian, written by SmoothWall Ltd and others, is content-control software: software designed to control which websites users can access. It also includes virus filtering and usage monitoring features. DansGuardian must be installed on a Unix or GNU/Linux computer, such as a server computer; its filtering extends to all computers in an organization, including Windows and Macintosh computers. DansGuardian is used by schools, businesses, value-added Internet service providers, and others.[1]
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DansGuardian can use ClamAV to scan for, and block, viruses, in the files that users download.
DansGuardian saves log files showing who has visited which webpage. These files can be reviewed manually or with the help of log analysis software.
DansGuardian is one of the few widely used content control systems that makes its source code available, thus avoiding some of the criticisms associated with content control system proxies being "black box" systems.
DansGuardian is distributed under the GPLv2 free software license, and written using the C++ programming language. It primarily runs in GNU/Linux and other Unixes. It is entirely command line and web-based, and meant to be used in conjunction with a web proxy such as Squid. The Ubuntu Christian Edition GNU/Linux distribution includes a graphical user interface (GUI) tool for configuring DansGuardian, but the tool does not work as well as the configuration tools included with SmoothWall Guardian, and other web filters. Although there is a graphical user interface available for Ubuntu, called WebContentControl, which installs and configures DansGuardian, FireHol and TinyProxy easily.[2]
In the United States, DansGuardian satisfies the requirements of Children's Internet Protection Act.
Two proprietary versions of DansGuardian exist; SmoothGuardian is a module for SmoothWall Limited Firewalls, and SmoothWall Network Guardian is a stand-alone product.[3] The SmoothWall implementation of DansGuardian represents a Becta certified web filtering system.[4]
There is now a fork of Dansguardian Project called MinD. Its name is a recursive acronym for MinD is not Dansguardian. The "Toy" version of MinD is a fork of Dansguardian Project version 2.10.1.1 with some improvements.