Installation

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70+: Required only if building from source.
• Docker: Optional, only required if you intend to tail Docker containers.

Prebuilt Binaries

Precompiled binaries are available for major platforms on the GitHub Releases page.

Platform	Architecture	Binary Name	Notes
Linux	x86_64	flicker-linux-x86_64	Standard GNU/Linux
Linux	x86_64 (musl)	flicker-linux-x86_64-musl	Statically linked (Alpine)
Linux	ARM64	flicker-linux-aarch64	Raspberry Pi, AWS Graviton
macOS	Apple Silicon	flicker-macos-aarch64	M1/M2/M3 chips
macOS	Intel	flicker-macos-x86_64	Older Macs
Windows	x86_64	flicker-windows-x86_64.exe	Standard Windows

To install:

1. Download the appropriate binary for your system.
2. Rename it to flicker (or flicker.exe on Windows).
3. Make it executable (Linux/macOS): chmod +x flicker
4. Move it to your path (e.g., /usr/local/bin/).

# Example for Linux x86_64
curl -L -o flicker https://github.com/DavidHoenisch/flicker/releases/latest/download/flicker-linux-x86_64
chmod +x flicker
sudo mv flicker /usr/local/bin/

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/DavidHoenisch/flicker.git
cd flicker
cargo build --release

The binary will be available at ./target/release/flicker.

Docker Image

A lightweight Docker image based on Alpine Linux is available.

# Example usage in a docker-compose file
services:
  flicker:
    image: ghcr.io/davidhoenisch/flicker:latest
    volumes:
      - ./flicker.yaml:/etc/flicker/flicker.yaml:ro
      - /var/log:/var/log:ro
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro # For Docker tailing
    command: ["--config", "/etc/flicker/flicker.yaml"]

Running as a Service (Systemd)

Create /etc/systemd/system/flicker.service:

[Unit]
Description=Flicker Log Shipper
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=flicker
Group=flicker
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/flicker --config /etc/flicker/flicker.yaml
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl enable flicker
sudo systemctl start flicker

Basic Usage

Run Flicker with the default configuration (flicker.yaml in current directory):

./flicker

Specify a custom configuration file:

./flicker --config /path/to/my-config.yaml
# OR
./flicker -c /path/to/my-config.yaml

Show help:

./flicker --help