# Install build2 with Homebrew

C/C++ Build Toolchain. Version 0.18.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-27.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:build2
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install build2
```

  Evidence: provider-native install command

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:build2
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.18.1
- **Source summary:** C/C++ Build Toolchain
- **Homepage:** <https://build2.org>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-27T13:57:07Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T00:40:33+00:00

## Executables

- b (alias)
- bdep (alias)
- bpkg (alias)
- bx (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.18.1
## Project history and usage

build2 is a cross-platform, MIT-licensed C/C++ build toolchain made of a build system, package manager, project manager, and supporting libraries.

### Project history

The build2 project started in the mid-2010s with documentation copyright dating from 2014 and public toolchain tags beginning at 0.1.0. Its stated goal is to approximate Rust Cargo's convenience for C and C++ while keeping enough depth for complex real-world build requirements.

The toolchain is intentionally hierarchical: `b` is the general-purpose build system, `bpkg` handles package consumption, and `bdep` handles project development. The `build2-toolchain` repository is an amalgamation used to build and package those components together.

### Adoption history

build2 has remained a specialist C/C++ toolchain rather than a default ecosystem standard like CMake, but its own community page says it is used for real development and cites customer-facing software such as ODB and XSD. The project also maintains cppget.org as its package repository.

It is packaged by Homebrew, Nix, Fedora-style `bdep` packages, and Windows winget according to the input. Upstream development happens in self-hosted git repositories on git.build2.org with GitHub mirrors for collaboration.

### How it is used

Users typically create or initialize projects with `bdep`, build with `b`, and consume dependencies with `bpkg`. The documented configuration surface includes project-local `build/config.build`, `.build2/` state, `.build2/local/`, user-level `~/.build2/`, and system-level `/etc/build2/` locations.

The toolchain is aimed primarily at C/C++ and mixed-language projects involving C or C++, though the project describes a longer-term universal build-toolchain goal.

### Why package nerds care

build2 is significant because it is one of the more complete attempts to give C and C++ a Cargo-like combined build, package, and project-management workflow without hiding the complexity needed by native-code builds.

For package managers, it is also recursive in an interesting way: the build2 toolchain is used for its own development, and the upstream amalgamation repository exists specifically to make source builds and binary packaging of the whole toolchain practical.

### Timeline

- 2014: build2 documentation copyright begins, marking the early public project era.
- 2010s: Public 0.x toolchain tags began with 0.1.0 and evolved through the pre-1.0 series.
- 2018: The project pointed users to a CppCon 2018 presentation as a toolchain overview.
- 2020s: The community page described build2 as in the final stage of pre-1.0 development and already used in projects such as ODB and XSD.
- 2026: The Toolchain Introduction metadata showed version 0.18 and copyright through 2026.

### Related projects

- Cargo is the explicit convenience benchmark named by the build2 homepage.
- CMake and Autotools are common neighboring C/C++ build-system incumbents, though build2 packages build, dependency, and project management together.
- cppget.org is the build2 package repository referenced by the project community page.

### Sources

- <https://build2.org>
- <https://build2.org/build2-toolchain/doc/build2-toolchain-intro.xhtml>
- <https://build2.org/community.xhtml>
- <https://git.build2.org/cgit/build2-toolchain/plain/README.md>
- source_facts.package-manager


## Security Notes

generalized runtime or code generation signal.

- **Geiger risk:** yellow / medium
- generalized runtime or code generation signal


## 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: build/config.build, .build2/, .build2/local/, ~/.build2/, /etc/build2/

## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/build2.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/build2.yml)


## Sources

- Nucleus package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation