macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install liblzfprovider-native install command
brew / rank 3758
Install liblzf with Homebrew
Very small, very fast data compression library. Version 3.6 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
overview
Package summary
Very small, very fast data compression library
Project links
Commands and aliases
- lzf
history
Project history and usage
liblzf is Marc Lehmann's very small portable-C compression library built around the LZF algorithm. Its niche is fast, easy-to-embed compression rather than maximum compression ratio.
Project history
The project page describes LibLZF as consisting of two .c files and two .h files, designed to be dropped into other programs. The same page emphasizes speed, portability, and a BSD-type license as reasons to use it in applications.
The public header copyright range is 2000-2008 for Marc Alexander Lehmann, which supports liblzf's origin as an early-2000s C library. The NetBSD lzf(1) manual records that the lzf command first appeared with version 0.1 of Marc Lehmann's LZF library and was rewritten for version 2.0.
Adoption history
liblzf's adoption is mostly embedded and quiet. Redis source code includes lzf.h in its RDB persistence code as the LZF compression library, which made the algorithm familiar to people inspecting Redis dump files even when they never installed the standalone liblzf package.
How it is used
Developers embed the small C files directly or link the packaged library, while the lzf command provides a gzip-like utility interface. Build-time knobs such as HLOG, VERY_FAST, ULTRA_FAST, and CHECK_INPUT let embedders trade compression quality, speed, memory, and input validation.
Why package nerds care
liblzf matters to package nerds because it is a classic tiny-C-library package: old, compact, permissively licensed, easy to vendor, and still visible through larger systems that adopted its file-format behavior.
Timeline
- 2000: Public source headers begin their copyright range.
- 2008: Public source headers end the original copyright range at 2008.
- 2014: NetBSD 7.0 manual documented the lzf command as appearing in NetBSD 7.0.
- 2026: Homebrew batch metadata listed liblzf alongside Debian, Fedora, Nix, Arch, Ubuntu, and Alpine packages.
Related projects
- Redis uses LZF compression code in RDB persistence.
- The lzf-rs Rust project and Compress::LZF Perl module are examples of later language bindings or rewrites around the same small LZF format.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: green
library-like package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- library-like package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:library-like
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
lzf | 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 version3.6
manager updated
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:liblzf |
|---|---|
| Version | 3.6 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://oldhome.schmorp.de/marc/liblzf.html |
| Bottle | not recorded |
| Service | none declared |
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
- Nucleus package database
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation