As Apple's built-in Firewall preferences improves in both functionality and security, I will be aiming Flying Buttress more at users who need the advanced firewall configuration, logging, and IP sharing options found in Flying Buttress.

There is no reason that a new or inexperienced user cannot use Flying Buttress, but Apple's own Firewall preferences will likely remain a simpler interface for configuring a basic firewall.

I was contacted a few months ago by the holder of the BrickHouse trademark (a software consulting company), and they requested that I stop using the name 'BrickHouse' for my firewall software. Although I've been using the name for 5 years, they apparently just recently noticed my product had the same name as their company. Therefore, I've renamed BrickHouse to 'Flying Buttress'.

Flying Buttress
noun: In architecture, a flying buttress is a structural feature used to transmit the thrust of a vault across an intervening space, such as an aisle, chapel or cloister, to a buttress built outside the latter. The employment of the flying buttress meant that the load bearing walls could contain cut-outs, such as for large windows, that would otherwise seriously weaken the vault walls. (definition from wikipedia.org).

In addition to a new name and icon, I have also fixed any non-cosmetic bugs found in version 1.3, including the 'Startup Item not applying issue' on 10.3.9 or higher..

Regarding my apparent disappearance -- I'm fine, it's just that as each year as gone by, my day job has gotten busier and busier. That's a good thing, as I make my living from it, but it has seriously curtailed the amount of time I can spend on shareware (and shareware support). I do try to answer as many questions as I can for people, but sometimes I miss a few. If you write me and I don't respond promptly (within a few days), please resend your question. Also, putting the name of the product in the subject line will help keep it from inadvertently getting filed with the spam emails.>

Regarding the fate of my support forum -- the little bondi blue iMac that it had been running on for years finally clicked it's last 'Maxtor death click' this last year and stopped booting. I have not found an appropriate replacement for it yet. I probably should have posted a notice about it, but as I mentioned above, I am very busy nowdays.

In any case, if you need advanced control over your OSX firewall configuration, and wish to use a GUI rather than a text editor, Flying Buttress should still serve your purposes.

As always, you may evaluate Flying Buttress without registering as long as you wish. If you believe it's worth the shareware fee, please register it. All features are enabled in the download, however, as they were in previous versions.

If you have installed a firewall configuration with an earlier version of Flying Buttress, you should select 'Remove Startup File' from the Options menu, then click 'Install' to install an updated StartupItem directory.

1.4 12/31/2005
Changed name to Flying Buttress, Fixed startup item issue under 10.3.9 or higher.

1.3 4/10/2005
Tested on both Panther (10.3) and the latest seed of Tiger available at the time (8A425). Includes several changes to support Tiger. NOTE: This version will not run on 10.2 or earlier. Updated (and now working on Panther and higher) online documentation under the Help menu. Please read the Read Me file for more information.

1.2b12 7/1/2003
I fixed the worst, stupid bug in 1.2b11 that disallowed saving unless you'd previously run 1.2b10 or earlier. Doh! Also, several minor differences in the way Panther logged firewall entries were accounted for so that the Log window should now work on both 10.2 and 10.3.

1.2b11 6/14/2003
Fixed bug that prevented proper saving of customized expert settings. When authentication dialog appears, password field is now highlighted by default, instead of the user name field. Expert text is now properly made editable when program launches if 'Allow Editing' has been checked. Split view in Expert mode now properly saves and restores it's position.

1.1b6 10/7/2001
Built for OSX 10.1. Many new features and bug fixes. See the ReadMe file for complete details.

1.1b5 6/4/2001
New interface. New Features: Ability to configure PPPoE and AirPort or second ethernet cards on multi-homed machines. Flexible rule ordering, easy custom rule editor, many more canned filters including many common attacks and trojan horses. New Setup Assistant. IP Sharing/NAT configuration and control. Ability to create several different internal subnets to allow the use of DMZ's. Redirection of certain incoming traffic to internal local machines running public services.

1.1b1 - 1.1b4 5/1/2001 - 6/2/2001
Private releases to beta test group. Full list of changes under 1.1b5.

1.0.2SE 5/15/2001
Special Edition for WWDC 2001. Replaces RPC Quick setting with Andrew File System.

1.0.2 4/12/2001
Improved generated firewall rules to properly allow outgoing traffic in restrictive configurations, added 'Remove Startup Script' option. Also added beginnings of a FAQ, and an important tip for PPPoE users.

1.0.1 3/28/2001
Fixed sporadic app crasher when zeroing monitor rule counts. Changed window title to indicate configuration mode, added iDisk label to AppleShare option. Added missing additional import filters. Added additional documentation.

1.0 Final 3/23/2001
Made numerous changes for compatibility with release version of OS X 1.0. New features include: Improved Monitor window, customizable toolbars, Security framework support, support for SMB/Samba port rules and the firewall denial log. Experimental support for dynamic NetInfo/NFS port rules.

1.0b 4 1/14/2001
Fixed possible crashing bug that appeared when creating Startup File and running Flying Buttress as root.

1.0b3 11/2/2000
Removed rsh, rlogin and exec quick config options and replaced them with DNS, finger and talk since they're much more likely to be needed by regular people. Unix-savvy users who need the removed options should be able to use the Expert settings screen to do so. Fixed a minor issue with the bootp and ntp rules and removed an overly-restrictive default rule that could prevent desired incoming connections in some cases. Fabulous new full-color icon!

1.0b2 10/22/2000
I discovered a configuration issue with restricting the outgoing traffic in computer lab setups, and a cosmetic issue with resizing the Monitor window shortly after I released Flying Buttress 1.0b1. Also found and fixed an application crasher that could occur while monitoring the firewall when logged into the computer as the root user.

Registration

Flying Buttress is a shareware product.
The cost is $25 per machine.

You may use Flying Buttress without registering it until you feel that it is worth $25 to you.

If you like Flying Buttress, you should pay the shareware fee to help ensure future development of the product.

Please visit my order page to register Flying Buttress.