# Install cfengine with Homebrew, apk

Help manage and understand IT infrastructure. Version 3.28.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-31. Also installable with apk: sudo apk add cfengine.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:cfengine
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install cfengine
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- apk (92%):

```sh
sudo apk add cfengine
```

  Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: cfengine from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:cfengine
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 3.28.0
- **Source summary:** Help manage and understand IT infrastructure
- **Homepage:** <https://cfengine.com/>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-31T08:47:01+01:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- cf-agent (alias)
- cf-check (alias)
- cf-execd (alias)
- cf-key (alias)
- cf-monitord (alias)
- cf-net (alias)
- cf-promises (alias)
- cf-runagent (alias)
- cf-secret (alias)
- cf-serverd (alias)
- cf-support (alias)
- cf-upgrade (alias)
- rpmvercmp (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 3.28.0
## Project history and usage

CFEngine is a long-running open source configuration management and infrastructure automation system. Official docs describe lightweight C-based agents that continually converge machines toward desired state written in the CFEngine policy language.

### Project history

The CFEngine core README says CFEngine was originally created by Mark Burgess and that CFEngine 3 is a popular open source configuration management system for automated configuration and maintenance of large-scale computer systems. The same README describes CFEngine 3 as a significant, incompatible generation after CFEngine 2.

### Adoption history

The official overview says CFEngine runs across many platforms, from embedded devices through servers, cloud systems, and mainframes, and can handle tens or hundreds of thousands of hosts. The input package facts show it packaged for Homebrew and Alpine.

### How it is used

Administrators write desired state in `.cf` policy files, normally stored under `/var/cfengine/masterfiles` on policy hubs and cached into `/var/cfengine/inputs` on clients before local `cf-agent` execution.

### Why package nerds care

CFEngine matters in package-manager culture because it is one of the classic Unix-native configuration management agents: a pile of small `cf-*` binaries, a private `/var/cfengine` workspace, local convergence, and policy-as-code before that term became fashionable.

### Timeline

- CFEngine 2 era: CFEngine 3 kept enough server protocol compatibility to support gradual upgrades.
- 2012: Official `cfengine/core` GitHub repository metadata records repository creation.
- CFEngine 3: Official README documents a more powerful but policy-language-incompatible generation.

### Related projects

- Official source repositories include `cfengine/core`, `cfengine/masterfiles`, `cfengine/documentation`, `cfengine/cf-remote`, and `cfengine/buildscripts`.
- CFEngine's documentation links the system to Promise Theory.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/cfengine/core>
- <https://github.com/cfengine/core>
- <https://cfengine.com/>
- <https://docs.cfengine.com/>
- <https://docs.cfengine.com/docs/3.27/overview/directory-structure>
- <https://github.com/cfengine/core#readme>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/cfengine.json>


## Security Notes

infrastructure mutation or orchestration signal.

- **Geiger risk:** orange / medium
- infrastructure mutation or orchestration 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: /var/cfengine/masterfiles, /var/cfengine/inputs

## Credential files

- Unix: /var/cfengine/ppkeys
## Other Package-Manager Records

- apk - cfengine - 3.27.1-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: cfengine from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | A systems administration tool for networks | https://www.cfengine.com/
- apk - cfengine-doc - 3.27.1-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: cfengine-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | A systems administration tool for networks (documentation) | https://www.cfengine.com/
- apk - cfengine-masterfiles - 3.27.1-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: cfengine-masterfiles from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Cfengine default masterfiles | https://www.cfengine.com/


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/cfengine.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/cfengine.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