macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install dwarfslocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew / rank 3504
Install dwarfs with Homebrew, Nix, zypper
Fast high compression read-only file system for Linux, Windows, and macOS. Version 0.15.6 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-26. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#dwarfs.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#dwarfsnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/dw/dwarfs/package.nix · source: api.github.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install dwarfsopenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · dwarfs · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
Fast high compression read-only file system for Linux, Windows, and macOS
Project links
Commands and aliases
- dwarfsck
- dwarfsextract
- mkdwarfs
history
Project history and usage
DwarFS is a high-compression read-only filesystem for Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, and Windows. Its README frames it as a mountable archive optimized for fast random reads and strong space savings on redundant data.
Project history
Marcus Holland-Moritz writes in the README that he started working on DwarFS in 2013 because several hundred Perl installations were consuming about 30 GB, and existing compressed filesystems either did not compress well enough or were too slow and unstable for his use case.
The public GitHub repository was created in November 2020, and GitHub release metadata records release-0.1.0 the same month. By 2026, the project had grown into a multi-platform filesystem with mkdwarfs for image creation, dwarfs for mounting, dwarfsextract for extraction, and dwarfsck for inspection and checksums.
The README is unusually benchmark-heavy: it compares DwarFS with tar/gzip, 7-Zip, SquashFS, lrzip, zpaq, wimlib, Cromfs, EROFS, and fuse-archive across redundant Perl installations, CI artifacts, game audio assets, and other datasets.
Adoption history
DwarFS adoption is strongest among users with highly redundant trees: many software builds, versioned runtimes, large asset collections, backups, and archives where mountable access matters. The README includes package-maintainer notes, release-download badges, a Homebrew installs badge, a Repology packaging badge, related projects, and notable users.
The input metadata lists Homebrew, Nix, and zypper packages. That package-manager footprint is important because DwarFS is a native filesystem/archive tool with FUSE and compression-library concerns; reproducible distribution builds make it easier to deploy than ad hoc source builds.
How it is used
The basic workflow is mkdwarfs -i /path/to/input/dir -o image.dwarfs, then dwarfs image.dwarfs /path/to/mountpoint to mount it. Users can extract with dwarfsextract and inspect or checksum images with dwarfsck.
DwarFS is read-only when mounted, so it is used more like a compressed, mountable artifact store than a writable filesystem. Its tuning knobs cover compression level, block size, categorization, worker counts, memory limits, duplicate segment search, and related compression-performance tradeoffs.
Why package nerds care
DwarFS is package-nerd significant because it is a modern alternative in a class usually dominated by SquashFS, tarballs, zip files, and container/image formats. It is especially interesting when the package is not just a compressor but a filesystem image format plus FUSE driver plus inspection/extraction tools.
It also illustrates why package managers matter for systems tools: users need compatible FUSE support, compression libraries, platform-specific builds, and command-line utilities installed together.
Timeline
- 2013: Work on DwarFS begins, according to the README history section.
- 2020: The public GitHub repository is created and release-0.1.0 is published.
- 2026: GitHub release metadata records v0.15.3.
Related projects
- The README compares DwarFS with SquashFS, Cromfs, EROFS, lrzip, zpaq, zpaqfranz, wimlib, fuse-archive, tar/gzip, and 7-Zip.
- Related runtime/package-image projects named by the README include PELF and uruntime, which mention DwarFS support.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: blue
broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.
Risk classifier
blue risk · medium confidence · tool
Why
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal
Signals
- text:compress
Install behavior
- No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
dwarfsck | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
dwarfsextract | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
mkdwarfs | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-08-03
manager version0.15.6
manager updated2026-07-26
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:dwarfs |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.15.6 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://github.com/mhx/dwarfs |
| Repository | https://github.com/mhx/dwarfs |
| Last updated | 2026-07-26T17:46:02Z |
| Pulse | updated |
| Bottle | not recorded |
| Service | none declared |
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
Nix95%
dwarfs
nix profile install nixpkgs#dwarfs- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Dwarfs
zypper95%
dwarfs 0.15.5-1.2
Deduplicating compressed read-only file system
sudo zypper install dwarfs- License: GPL-3.0-or-later AND MIT
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: dwarfs
- 14 dependencies
- 3 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Dwarfs
zypper95%
dwarfs-bash-completion 0.15.5-1.2
Bash Completion for dwarfs
sudo zypper install dwarfs-bash-completion- License: GPL-3.0-or-later AND MIT
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: noarch
- Source Package: dwarfs
- 2 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Dwarfs
zypper95%
dwarfs-devel 0.15.5-1.2
DwarFS development files
sudo zypper install dwarfs-devel- License: GPL-3.0-or-later AND MIT
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: dwarfs
- 1 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Dwarfs
zypper95%
dwarfs-zsh-completion 0.15.5-1.2
ZSH Completion for dwarfs
sudo zypper install dwarfs-zsh-completion- License: GPL-3.0-or-later AND MIT
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: noarch
- Source Package: dwarfs
- 2 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Dwarfs
zypper95%
libdwarfs0_15_5 0.15.5-1.2
DwarFS dynamic library
sudo zypper install libdwarfs0_15_5- License: GPL-3.0-or-later AND MIT
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: dwarfs
- 21 dependencies
- 8 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Dwarfs
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- pkg.so package database
- pkgdb category and tag curation