PF Firewall configuring frontends
With Mavericks Apple phased out support for the IPFW firewall and switched to using the PF firewall instead. (Yosemite also uses PF.) Clearly one can configure this firewall by hand editing the pf configuration files but the author of a GUI tool for configuring IPFW has also produced a GUI tool for setting up PF firewall rules as well. The name of the IPFW tool is WaterRoof and the name of the PF tool is IceFloor.
I have used or at least experimented with IceFloor before and it does work but I was always slightly concerned about the way it works which is to install a launchd file to cause PF to load a different config file to the standard initial Apple one. My concern was that any Apple updates might break this and this might also make it less compatible with Apple's own firewall settings via Server.app. Of course the advantage is that IceFloor keeps any new rules separate to Apple's rules.
There is however a new PF GUI tool now out, I have not yet tried it myself so I am bringing it to the attention of the Apple community to see if anyone has any feedback on it as yet. See MurusFireWall.
