# Install fastjar with Homebrew

Implementation of Sun's jar tool. Version 0.98 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:fastjar
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install fastjar
```

  Evidence: provider-native install command

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:fastjar
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.98
- **Source summary:** Implementation of Sun's jar tool
- **Homepage:** <https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/fastjar>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T00:40:33+00:00

## Executables

- fastjar (alias)
- grepjar (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.98
## Project history and usage

fastjar is a free-software implementation of the Java JAR command, paired with grepjar, that survived as a small Unix package because it let GCC/GNU Java-era systems create and inspect JAR archives without depending on Sun's proprietary toolchain.

### Project history

The Savannah project page records fastjar as a non-GNU project registered on March 21, 2006, with GPL-2.0-or-later licensing and a CVS source repository. GCC hosted a manual titled Guide to GNU jar utilities, documenting fastjar and grepjar as command-line utilities.

### Adoption history

fastjar's adoption has been historical and distribution-driven rather than community-growth driven. It appears in Unix package managers as a compatibility tool for older Java/GNU Classpath and GCC Java workflows, while modern Java installations generally provide jar through the JDK.

### How it is used

The GCC manual describes fastjar as the tool to invoke for JAR archive operations and grepjar as the companion search utility. In practice it is installed when a small, standalone jar-compatible command is needed in old build recipes or minimal packaging environments.

### Why package nerds care

Package maintainers care about fastjar mostly as fossil infrastructure: it is a reminder of the period when free Java tooling had to replace proprietary pieces one command at a time, and it remains packaged because old build graphs sometimes still name fastjar explicitly.

### Timeline

- 2006: fastjar project registered on Savannah.
- 2006: GCC 4.0-era online docs published the fastjar and grepjar manual.
- 2026: Homebrew still packages fastjar 0.98 as an implementation of Sun's jar tool.

### Related projects

- Sun/Oracle jar is the tool fastjar implements.
- grepjar is shipped and documented as fastjar's companion utility.
- GNU Classpath and GCC Java-era packaging are the ecosystem context in which fastjar mattered most.

### Sources

- <https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/fastjar>
- <https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-4.0.4/fastjar>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/fastjar>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## Combined YAML source

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


## Sources

- Nucleus package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation