# Install babeld with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, Nix, pacman
Loop-avoiding distance-vector routing protocol. Version 1.14 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-21. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install babeld.
## Install
```sh
sudo av install brew:babeld
```
Additional install commands:
### macOS
- Homebrew (100%):
```sh
brew install babeld
```
Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata
### Linux
- apk (92%):
```sh
sudo apk add babeld
```
Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: babeld from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
- Debian apt (92%):
```sh
sudo apt install babeld
```
Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: babeld from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
- dnf (92%):
```sh
sudo dnf install babeld
```
Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: babeld from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/07190dc5ae9f35ae73866675fed6d95fe6e8d9fe22c9d7cdf85862cb2ed24a4c-primary.xml.zst
- Nix (92%):
```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#babeld
```
Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ba/babeld/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- pacman (92%):
```sh
sudo pacman -S babeld
```
Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: babeld from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz
## Package facts
- **Package key:** brew:babeld
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.14
- **Source summary:** Loop-avoiding distance-vector routing protocol
- **Homepage:**
- **Repository:**
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-21T11:59:14Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00
## Executables
- babeld (alias)
## Install behavior
- Bottle: not available
## Freshness
- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.14
## Project history and usage
babeld is the reference-style Unix daemon for Babel, a loop-avoiding distance-vector routing protocol for IPv6 and IPv4. It is optimized for wireless mesh networks but also works on wired networks, making it a small, practical routing daemon for experimental, community, and mixed-link networks.
### Project history
Babel was designed by Juliusz Chroboczek as a loop-avoiding distance-vector protocol with fast convergence properties, drawing ideas from DSDV, AODV, and EIGRP while adding link-cost estimation and route redistribution.
The babeld manual presents the daemon as the operational implementation: it runs on selected interfaces, sends routing updates over the protocol port, installs routes into the kernel, and supports a configuration file, local control interface, route filtering, and redistribution.
Babel was standardized first as RFC 6126 and then revised as RFC 8966. That standards path gave babeld significance beyond a standalone daemon: it became one of the concrete implementations behind an IETF routing protocol.
### Adoption history
Babel's adoption has been strongest in wireless mesh, ad-hoc, and small routing deployments where fast convergence, loop avoidance, and link-quality awareness matter. The official project page also documents related implementations, including FRR's Babel support and pybabel.
The package metadata in this batch shows babeld available through Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, and Nix. That makes it a broadly packaged routing daemon despite its specialized networking niche.
### How it is used
Operators run babeld on one or more network interfaces to exchange Babel routes. The daemon can read /etc/babeld.conf by default, preserve long-term state, install kernel routes, export routes from routing tables, and expose a local configuration protocol.
babeld is usually used on mesh routers, lab networks, community wireless networks, and dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 environments where a compact dynamic routing daemon is preferable to heavier routing suites.
### Why package nerds care
babeld is a tidy example of a serious network protocol delivered as a small Unix daemon. For package maintainers, it has the interesting traits of real routing software without the size and policy surface of a full routing suite.
It also sits at the meeting point of RFC standardization and grassroots mesh networking, which makes its package history more interesting than its low-key command name suggests.
### Timeline
- 2011: Babel is standardized as RFC 6126.
- 2018: babeld 1.8.x releases appear in the official Git tag history.
- 2021: Babel is revised and standardized as RFC 8966.
- 2026: babeld package metadata shows continuing availability across major Unix package managers.
### Related projects
- FRR includes a Babel implementation based on babeld, though the official Babel page warns that version is obsolete and not recommended.
- pybabel is an independent Python implementation of the IPv6 subset of RFC 6126.
- DSDV, AODV, and EIGRP are named by the Babel project as protocol influences.
- bird2 and other routing suites are adjacent package-manager alternatives for dynamic routing, though Babel's daemon remains its focused implementation.
### Sources
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- input.json source_facts.package-manager
## Security Notes
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
## Configuration and credential file locations
These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.
## Configuration files
- Unix: /etc/babeld.conf
## Other Package-Manager Records
- Debian apt - babeld - 1.13.1+ds-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: babeld from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | loop-free distance-vector routing protocol | http://www.pps.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~jch/software/babel/
- Nix - babeld: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ba/babeld/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Ubuntu apt - babeld - 1.12.1-1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: babeld from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | loop-free distance-vector routing protocol | http://www.pps.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~jch/software/babel/
- apk - babeld - 1.14-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: babeld from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | A loop-avoiding distance-vector routing protocol | https://www.irif.fr/~jch/software/babel/
- apk - babeld-doc - 1.14-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: babeld-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | A loop-avoiding distance-vector routing protocol (documentation) | https://www.irif.fr/~jch/software/babel/
- apk - babeld-openrc - 1.14-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: babeld-openrc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | A loop-avoiding distance-vector routing protocol (OpenRC init scripts) | https://www.irif.fr/~jch/software/babel/
- dnf - babeld - 1.14-2.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: babeld from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/07190dc5ae9f35ae73866675fed6d95fe6e8d9fe22c9d7cdf85862cb2ed24a4c-primary.xml.zst | Ad-hoc network routing daemon | http://www.pps.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~jch/software/babel/
- pacman - babeld - 1.14-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: babeld from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | A loop-avoiding distance-vector routing protocol | https://www.irif.fr/~jch/software/babel/
## Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/babeld.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/babeld.yml)
## Sources
- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph