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Episode

Episode 867 - Pangolin: People Can Lie

Podcast
FLOSS Weekly
Published
Mar 25, 2026
Duration seconds
3797
Processing state
processed
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Summary

Pangolin offers an open-source tunneling solution designed to solve connectivity and management challenges in IoT and OT environments. The discussion explores how it differentiates from existing tools like Wireguard and Cloudflare tunnels.

Topics

  • Open Source
  • IoT
  • OT
  • Network Tunneling
  • AGPL License
  • Cloudflare Tunnels
  • Software Engineering
  • Device Provisioning

Highlights

  • Main idea: Pangolin provides a specialized tunneling alternative for managing large-scale IoT and OT device fleets
  • Practical takeaway: Users can deploy Pangolin on low-cost VPS instances to create a cost-effective alternative to Cloudflare tunnels
  • Failure mode: Managing hardware inventory and device provisioning remains a significant complexity in IoT deployments
  • Licensing insight: The AGPL license is used effectively to prevent cloud providers from incorporating the code into network services without contributing back
  • Technical preference: Modern development workflows are shifting from traditional editors like Vim toward high-performance tools like Neovim and Zed

Chapters

  1. 1:00 Defining IoT and OT: An introduction to the difference between Information Technology and Operational Technology in the context of physical device connectivity.
  2. 5:40 The Problem with Existing Tunnels: Milo discusses the specific connectivity gaps that led to the creation of the Pangolin tunneling solution.
  3. 10:30 Abstracting the Network: A look at the implementation process and how Pangolin focuses on application-level connectivity rather than just network layers.
  4. 15:25 The Challenges of Hardware: A discussion on why software-centric approaches are often preferred over the complexities of managing physical hardware inventory.
  5. 20:20 Protocol and Infrastructure: An exploration of the custom protocol used by Pangolin and its similarities to STUN/TURN architectures.
  6. 25:10 The Power of AGPL Licensing: How the AGPL license closes the 'cloud loophole' and prevents large providers from exploiting open-source code.
  7. 44:20 Cost-Effective Deployment: How to run a private Pangolin instance using a cheap VPS to replace expensive commercial tunneling services.
  8. 49:05 IoT Fleet Management: Addressing the pain points of provisioning and managing software updates across large-scale device fleets.