_STACKMANAGER(8)

📦
version 4.15 · 4 versions
, in centos-stream 9

👑 _STACKMANAGER(8) — the libreswan exec prog tea 💅

okay bestie, so this is from the Executable programs manual, and we're literally about to spill all the kernel-component drama 🫖✨

✨ NAME ✨

ipsec__stackmanager — bestie, it's the internal script that brings up kernel components for Libreswan. no cap, that's the whole vibe 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

ipsec _stackmanager start [--xfrm]

ipsec _stackmanager stop

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so like, ipsec _stackmanager is called from within the init sub-system (you know, systemd, upstart, sysv initscripts — the whole squad) to bring up the Libreswan kernel component as configured via the protostack= option in the ipsec.conf configuration file. periodt 💅

this involves loading and optionally unloading of the required kernel modules. the way that the Linux kernel cannot autodetect most crypto related drivers on-demand is literally so annoying 😭, so _stackmanager handles loading the modules for the specific IPsec stack. main character energy fr.

when the --xfrm option is given to the start command, the XFRM stack is loaded regardless of the existence or contents of the ipsec.conf file. this is used for docker tests 🐳 where the host system, which might not have libreswan installed, needs to run _stackmanager from the source tree to load the modules on the host so the modules are available inside the containers. iconic.

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

go read those too, bestie, they're giving lore 🫶

💜 HISTORY 💜

this script was introduced in Libreswan. on the older Openswan systems, this functionality was split over various script files such as ipsec _startnetkey, ipsec _startklips, ipsec _realsetup and ipsec setup. messy era honestly 💀

man page written for the Libreswan project <https://libreswan.org/> by Paul Wouters. slay 🌈

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Paul Wouters

  • placeholder to suppress warning

and that's the whole tea, bestie — brought to you by libreswan, dated 10/19/2026, under the _STACKMANAGER(8) glow-up ✨💖 stay slaying in your terminal fr fr 💅🎀

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