Build and Install

Fluent Bit uses CMake as its build system. The suggested procedure to prepare the build system consists of the following steps:

Requirements

• CMake >= 3.12

• Flex

• Bison >= 3

• YAML headers

• OpenSSL headers

Prepare environment

In the following steps you can find exact commands to build and install the project with the default options. If you already know how CMake works you can skip this part and look at the build options available. Note that Fluent Bit requires CMake 3.x. You may need to use cmake3 instead of cmake to complete the following steps on your system.

Change to the build/ directory inside the Fluent Bit sources:

$ cd build/

Let CMake configure the project specifying where the root path is located:

$ cmake ../
-- The C compiler identification is GNU 4.9.2
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/cc
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/cc -- works
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 4.9.2
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++ -- works
...
-- Could NOT find Doxygen (missing:  DOXYGEN_EXECUTABLE)
-- Looking for accept4
-- Looking for accept4 - not found
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /home/edsiper/coding/fluent-bit/build

Now you are ready to start the compilation process through the simple make command:

$ make
Scanning dependencies of target msgpack
[  2%] Building C object lib/msgpack-1.1.0/CMakeFiles/msgpack.dir/src/unpack.c.o
[  4%] Building C object lib/msgpack-1.1.0/CMakeFiles/msgpack.dir/src/objectc.c.o
[  7%] Building C object lib/msgpack-1.1.0/CMakeFiles/msgpack.dir/src/version.c.o
...
[ 19%] Building C object lib/monkey/mk_core/CMakeFiles/mk_core.dir/mk_file.c.o
[ 21%] Building C object lib/monkey/mk_core/CMakeFiles/mk_core.dir/mk_rconf.c.o
[ 23%] Building C object lib/monkey/mk_core/CMakeFiles/mk_core.dir/mk_string.c.o
...
Scanning dependencies of target fluent-bit-static
[ 66%] Building C object src/CMakeFiles/fluent-bit-static.dir/flb_pack.c.o
[ 69%] Building C object src/CMakeFiles/fluent-bit-static.dir/flb_input.c.o
[ 71%] Building C object src/CMakeFiles/fluent-bit-static.dir/flb_output.c.o
...
Linking C executable ../bin/fluent-bit
[100%] Built target fluent-bit-bin

to continue installing the binary on the system just do:

$ make install

it's likely you may need root privileges so you can try to prefixing the command with sudo.

Build Options

Fluent Bit provides certain options to CMake that can be enabled or disabled when configuring, please refer to the following tables under the General Options, Development Options, Input Plugins and _Output Plugins sections.

General Options

option	description	default
FLB_ALL	Enable all features available	No
FLB_JEMALLOC	Use Jemalloc as default memory allocator	No
FLB_TLS	Build with SSL/TLS support	Yes
FLB_BINARY	Build executable	Yes
FLB_EXAMPLES	Build examples	Yes
FLB_SHARED_LIB	Build shared library	Yes
FLB_MTRACE	Enable mtrace support	No
FLB_INOTIFY	Enable Inotify support	Yes
FLB_POSIX_TLS	Force POSIX thread storage	No
FLB_SQLDB	Enable SQL embedded database support	No
FLB_HTTP_SERVER	Enable HTTP Server	No
FLB_LUAJIT	Enable Lua scripting support	Yes
FLB_RECORD_ACCESSOR	Enable record accessor	Yes
FLB_SIGNV4	Enable AWS Signv4 support	Yes
FLB_STATIC_CONF	Build binary using static configuration files. The value of this option must be a directory containing configuration files.
FLB_STREAM_PROCESSOR	Enable Stream Processor	Yes
FLB_CONFIG_YAML	Enable YAML configuration support	Yes
FLB_WASM	Build with WASM runtime support	Yes
FLB_WAMRC	Build with WASM AOT compiler executable	No

Development Options

option	description	default
FLB_DEBUG	Build binaries with debug symbols	No
FLB_VALGRIND	Enable Valgrind support	No
FLB_TRACE	Enable trace mode	No
FLB_SMALL	Minimise binary size	No
FLB_TESTS_RUNTIME	Enable runtime tests	No
FLB_TESTS_INTERNAL	Enable internal tests	No
FLB_TESTS	Enable tests	No
FLB_BACKTRACE	Enable backtrace/stacktrace support	Yes

Optimization Options

option	description	default
FLB_MSGPACK_TO_JSON_INIT_BUFFER_SIZE	Determine initial buffer size for msgpack to json conversion in terms of memory used by payload.	2.0
FLB_MSGPACK_TO_JSON_REALLOC_BUFFER_SIZE	Determine percentage of reallocation size when msgpack to json conversion buffer runs out of memory.	0.1

Input Plugins

The input plugins provides certain features to gather information from a specific source type which can be a network interface, some built-in metric or through a specific input device, the following input plugins are available:

option	description	default
FLB_IN_COLLECTD	Enable Collectd input plugin	On
FLB_IN_CPU	Enable CPU input plugin	On
FLB_IN_DISK	Enable Disk I/O Metrics input plugin	On
FLB_IN_DOCKER	Enable Docker metrics input plugin	On
FLB_IN_EXEC	Enable Exec input plugin	On
FLB_IN_EXEC_WASI	Enable Exec WASI input plugin	On
FLB_IN_FLUENTBIT_METRICS	Enable Fluent Bit metrics input plugin	On
FLB_IN_ELASTICSEARCH	Enable Elasticsearch/OpenSearch Bulk input plugin	On
FLB_IN_FORWARD	Enable Forward input plugin	On
FLB_IN_HEAD	Enable Head input plugin	On
FLB_IN_HEALTH	Enable Health input plugin	On
FLB_IN_KMSG	Enable Kernel log input plugin	On
FLB_IN_MEM	Enable Memory input plugin	On
FLB_IN_MQTT	Enable MQTT Server input plugin	On
FLB_IN_NETIF	Enable Network I/O metrics input plugin	On
FLB_IN_PROC	Enable Process monitoring input plugin	On
FLB_IN_RANDOM	Enable Random input plugin	On
FLB_IN_SERIAL	Enable Serial input plugin	On
FLB_IN_STDIN	Enable Standard input plugin	On
FLB_IN_SYSLOG	Enable Syslog input plugin	On
FLB_IN_SYSTEMD	Enable Systemd / Journald input plugin	On
FLB_IN_TAIL	Enable Tail (follow files) input plugin	On
FLB_IN_TCP	Enable TCP input plugin	On
FLB_IN_THERMAL	Enable system temperature(s) input plugin	On
FLB_IN_UDP	Enable UDP input plugin	On
FLB_IN_WINLOG	Enable Windows Event Log input plugin (Windows Only)	On
FLB_IN_WINEVTLOG	Enable Windows Event Log input plugin using winevt.h API (Windows Only)	On

Filter Plugins

The filter plugins allows to modify, enrich or drop records. The following table describes the filters available on this version:

option	description	default
FLB_FILTER_AWS	Enable AWS metadata filter	On
FLB_FILTER_ECS	Enable AWS metadata filter	On
FLB_FILTER_EXPECT	Enable Expect data test filter	On
FLB_FILTER_GREP	Enable Grep filter	On
FLB_FILTER_KUBERNETES	Enable Kubernetes metadata filter	On
FLB_FILTER_LUA	Enable Lua scripting filter	On
FLB_FILTER_MODIFY	Enable Modify filter	On
FLB_FILTER_NEST	Enable Nest filter	On
FLB_FILTER_PARSER	Enable Parser filter	On
FLB_FILTER_RECORD_MODIFIER	Enable Record Modifier filter	On
FLB_FILTER_REWRITE_TAG	Enable Rewrite Tag filter	On
FLB_FILTER_STDOUT	Enable Stdout filter	On
FLB_FILTER_SYSINFO	Enable Sysinfo filter	On
FLB_FILTER_THROTTLE	Enable Throttle filter	On
FLB_FILTER_TYPE_CONVERTER	Enable Type Converter filter	On
FLB_FILTER_WASM	Enable WASM filter	On

Output Plugins

The output plugins gives the capacity to flush the information to some external interface, service or terminal, the following table describes the output plugins available as of this version:

option	description	default
FLB_OUT_AZURE	Enable Microsoft Azure output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_AZURE_KUSTO	Enable Azure Kusto output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_BIGQUERY	Enable Google BigQuery output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_COUNTER	Enable Counter output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_CLOUDWATCH_LOGS	Enable Amazon CloudWatch output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_DATADOG	Enable Datadog output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_ES	Enable Elastic Search output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_FILE	Enable File output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_KINESIS_FIREHOSE	Enable Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_KINESIS_STREAMS	Enable Amazon Kinesis Data Streams output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_FLOWCOUNTER	Enable Flowcounter output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_FORWARD	Enable Fluentd output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_GELF	Enable Gelf output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_HTTP	Enable HTTP output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_INFLUXDB	Enable InfluxDB output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_KAFKA	Enable Kafka output	Off
FLB_OUT_KAFKA_REST	Enable Kafka REST Proxy output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_LIB	Enable Lib output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_NATS	Enable NATS output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_NULL	Enable NULL output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_PGSQL	Enable PostgreSQL output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_PLOT	Enable Plot output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_SLACK	Enable Slack output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_S3	Enable Amazon S3 output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_SPLUNK	Enable Splunk output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_STACKDRIVER	Enable Google Stackdriver output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_STDOUT	Enable STDOUT output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_TCP	Enable TCP/TLS output plugin	On
FLB_OUT_TD	Enable Treasure Data output plugin	On

Processor Plugins

The processor plugins provide the capability to handle the events within the processor pipelines to allow modifying, enrich or drop events. The following table describes the processors available on this version:

option	description	default
FLB_PROCESSOR_METRICS_SELECTOR	Enable metrics selector processor	On
FLB_PROCESSOR_LABELS	Enable metrics label manipulation processor	On