openfortivpn is a client for PPP+TLS VPN tunnel services compatible with Fortinet VPNs. It spawns a pppd process and manages communication between the gateway and that process to establish the tunnel.
The tool solves the problem of connecting to Fortinet VPN gateways on Linux and macOS systems where official clients may be unavailable or unsuitable. It works by handling the TLS handshake with the VPN gateway and then delegating the PPP protocol handling to the system's pppd daemon, allowing it to operate as a lightweight alternative to proprietary VPN clients.
The project suits users who need to connect to Fortinet infrastructure and prefer open-source solutions or require VPN access on systems where official clients are not available. It supports multiple authentication methods including passwords, user certificates, SAML login, and smartcard authentication via PKCS#11 tokens. Configuration can be managed through command-line arguments or configuration files. The tool is packaged in numerous Linux distributions including Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch Linux, Alpine Linux, and openSUSE, as well as macOS via Homebrew and MacPorts, making installation straightforward on most platforms. Smartcard support requires additional dependencies like openssl pkcs engine and opensc, with known limitations on certain systems such as macOS Mojave and recent Fedora versions that require specific OpenSSL development packages.
Development activity shows consistent maintenance with attention to compatibility across platforms and evolving security infrastructure. The project addresses platform-specific issues such as OpenSSL engine support changes in newer Fedora releases and maintains discussion of known limitations in smartcard support across different operating systems. Configuration options are documented comprehensively, and the tool supports multiple authentication scenarios reflecting real-world VPN deployment patterns. The codebase remains responsive to user-reported issues and compatibility concerns across the range of supported platforms.
