macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install libnfclocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install libnfcMacPorts ports tree · comms/libnfc/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew / rank 4300
Install libnfc with Homebrew, apk, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, apt, zypper
Low level NFC SDK and Programmers API. Version 1.8.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install libnfc-bin.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add libnfcAlpine Linux edge package indexes · libnfc · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install libnfcFedora Rawhide package metadata · libnfc · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#libnfcnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/li/libnfc/package.nix · source: api.github.com
Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S libnfcArch Linux sync databases · libnfc · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install libnfc-binDebian stable package indexes · libnfc-bin · source: deb.debian.org
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install libnfc-developenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · libnfc-devel · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
Low level NFC SDK and Programmers API
Project links
Commands and aliases
- nfc-anticol
- nfc-barcode
- nfc-dep-initiator
- nfc-dep-target
- nfc-emulate-forum-tag2
- nfc-emulate-forum-tag4
- nfc-emulate-tag
- nfc-emulate-uid
- nfc-jewel
- nfc-list
- nfc-mfclassic
- nfc-mfsetuid
- nfc-mfultralight
- nfc-poll
- nfc-read-forum-tag3
- nfc-relay
- nfc-relay-picc
- nfc-scan-device
- pn53x-diagnose
- pn53x-sam
- pn53x-tamashell
history
Project history and usage
libnfc is the nfc-tools C library for user-space access to NFC devices. It targets low-level reader and tag work rather than a single application workflow, exposing reader, initiator, and target features through a portable API and companion command-line tools.
Project history
The README identifies libnfc as a Free/Libre Near Field Communication library and credits early historical contributors including Roel Verdult in 2009, Romuald Conty from 2009-2015, Romain Tartiere from 2010-2012, Philippe Teuwen from 2010-2013, and Ludovic Rousseau from 2012-2013.
The project moved its official development center to GitHub after older web and forum sites disappeared. The nfc-tools project page describes broad operating-system support across GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and POSIX-style builds.
Adoption history
libnfc became a familiar dependency for desktop and embedded NFC experimentation because it supports inexpensive PN53x-class hardware, PC/SC readers, MIFARE Classic, FeliCa, ISO/IEC 14443 A/B, Jewel/Topaz, and peer-to-peer data exchange modes.
How it is used
The package ships many small diagnostic and manipulation tools, including nfc-list, nfc-poll, nfc-scan-device, nfc-mfclassic, nfc-mfultralight, and pn53x utilities. Official configuration examples use /etc/nfc/libnfc.conf and per-device files under /etc/nfc/devices.d when built with sysconfdir=/etc.
Why package nerds care
Package maintainers care about libnfc because it is where hardware access, udev/devd rules, USB libraries, PC/SC integration, and optional drivers all meet. It is also a hub for the nfc-tools ecosystem, with nearby projects such as libfreefare, libllcp, libndef, mfcuk, mfoc, and pam_nfc.
Timeline
- 2009: README copyright notes identify Roel Verdult and Romuald Conty among the early libnfc contributors.
- 2015: The nfc-tools project page identified GitHub as the code host and listed related nfc-tools projects.
- 2020-05-21: libnfc 1.7.2 was released, with the changelog warning it was incompatible with 1.7.1.
- 2020-05-22: libnfc 1.8.0 restored enum ordering compatibility and bumped the library version to 6.0.0.
Related projects
- Related nfc-tools projects include libfreefare, libllcp, libndef, mfcuk, mfoc, nfc-eventd, nfcutils, and pam_nfc.
- Hardware and protocol dependencies named by the project include libusb, pcsc-lite, PN53x devices, PC/SC readers, MIFARE Classic, and FeliCa.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: yellow
generalized runtime or code generation signal.
Risk classifier
yellow risk · medium confidence · runtime
Why
- generalized runtime or code generation signal
Signals
- text:shell
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.
local files
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
Config paths the tool may read or write during local use.
- Unix
/etc/nfc/libnfc.conf/etc/nfc/devices.d/*.conf
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
nfc-anticol | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-barcode | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-dep-initiator | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-dep-target | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-emulate-forum-tag2 | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-emulate-forum-tag4 | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-emulate-tag | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-emulate-uid | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-jewel | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-list | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-mfclassic | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-mfsetuid | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-mfultralight | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-poll | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-read-forum-tag3 | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-relay | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-relay-picc | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
nfc-scan-device | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
pn53x-diagnose | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
pn53x-sam | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
pn53x-tamashell | 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 version1.8.0
manager updated
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:libnfc |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.8.0 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://github.com/nfc-tools/libnfc |
| Repository | https://github.com/nfc-tools/libnfc |
| 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.
Debian apt95%
libnfc-bin 1.8.0-3.1+b1
Near Field Communication (NFC) binaries
sudo apt install libnfc-bin- Section: utils
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
Debian apt95%
libnfc-dev 1.8.0-3.1+b1
Near Field Communication (NFC) library (development files)
sudo apt install libnfc-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
Debian apt95%
libnfc-examples 1.8.0-3.1+b1
Near Field Communication (NFC) examples
sudo apt install libnfc-examples- Section: utils
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
Debian apt95%
libnfc-pn53x-examples 1.8.0-3.1+b1
Near Field Communication (NFC) examples for PN53x chips only
sudo apt install libnfc-pn53x-examples- Section: utils
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
Debian apt95%
libnfc6 1.8.0-3.1+b1
Near Field Communication (NFC) library
sudo apt install libnfc6- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
Nix95%
libnfc
nix profile install nixpkgs#libnfc- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
Ubuntu apt95%
libnfc-bin 1.8.0-3.1build1
Near Field Communication (NFC) binaries
sudo apt install libnfc-bin- Section: universe/utils
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
Ubuntu apt95%
libnfc-dev 1.8.0-3.1build1
Near Field Communication (NFC) library (development files)
sudo apt install libnfc-dev- Section: universe/libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
Ubuntu apt95%
libnfc-examples 1.8.0-3.1build1
Near Field Communication (NFC) examples
sudo apt install libnfc-examples- Section: universe/utils
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
Ubuntu apt95%
libnfc-pn53x-examples 1.8.0-3.1build1
Near Field Communication (NFC) examples for PN53x chips only
sudo apt install libnfc-pn53x-examples- Section: universe/utils
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
Ubuntu apt95%
libnfc6 1.8.0-3.1build1
Near Field Communication (NFC) library
sudo apt install libnfc6- Section: universe/libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
apk95%
libnfc 1.8.0-r2
Platform independent Near Field Communication (NFC) library
https://github.com/nfc-tools/libnfc
sudo apk add libnfc- License: LGPL-3.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
apk95%
libnfc-dev 1.8.0-r2
Platform independent Near Field Communication (NFC) library (development files)
https://github.com/nfc-tools/libnfc
sudo apk add libnfc-dev- License: LGPL-3.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
apk95%
libnfc-doc 1.8.0-r2
Platform independent Near Field Communication (NFC) library (documentation)
https://github.com/nfc-tools/libnfc
sudo apk add libnfc-doc- License: LGPL-3.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libnfc
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
apk95%
libnfc-tools 1.8.0-r2
Platform independent Near Field Communication (NFC) library (tools)
https://github.com/nfc-tools/libnfc
sudo apk add libnfc-tools- License: LGPL-3.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libnfc
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
dnf95%
libnfc 1.8.0-14.fc45
NFC SDK and Programmers API
sudo dnf install libnfc- License: LGPL-3.0-or-later
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: libnfc
- 6 dependencies
- 3 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libnfc
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 configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- pkg.so package database
- pkgdb category and tag curation