install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install libqalculate

provider-native install command

overview

Package summary

Library for Qalculate! program

Project links

Commands and aliases

qalc

history

Project history and usage

libqalculate is the calculation engine behind Qalculate!, a desktop and command-line calculator focused on units, symbolic manipulation, arbitrary precision, and practical scientific conversion.

Project history

Qalculate! began as a free software calculator with a GTK interface and split its reusable engine into libqalculate. The 2004 0.7.0 release made libqalculate a shared library and introduced the qalc command-line interface, which gave the project a package-manager identity beyond the GUI application.

The project saw long quiet stretches followed by renewed development. The official news archive records 0.9.7 in 2010 after a long pause, then a 2016 revival leading to 0.9.8. In 2017, version 1.0 marked increased stability and efficiency, version 2.0 replaced CLN with GMP and MPFR, removed the Glib dependency from the library, and brought a feature-complete Windows build.

By the 5.x series, the manual and homepage describe a broad calculator environment: customizable functions, unit conversion, physical constants, symbolic calculations, arbitrary precision, uncertainty propagation, interval arithmetic, plotting, GTK and Qt interfaces, and qalc.

Adoption history

libqalculate became package-worthy because it packages a full calculator brain separately from the interfaces. That lets distributions ship qalc for terminal users, GUI packages for desktop users, and a library for programs that need the same unit and expression engine.

How it is used

Homebrew users normally meet libqalculate through qalc, using it for unit conversions, exact arithmetic, physical constants, date and time calculations, symbolic algebra, and quick terminal math. Desktop Qalculate! users depend on the same library through the GTK and Qt front ends.

Why package nerds care

libqalculate is beloved package-manager material because it is a calculator that behaves like a small computer algebra and unit-conversion system but installs as a normal Unix CLI/library package. Its dependency changes in 2017 are also a good example of a mature scientific desktop project reducing legacy library drag.

Timeline

2004: Version 0.7.0 installed libqalculate as a shared library and added the qalc text interface.
2010: Version 0.9.7 was released after a long period without updates.
2016: Version 0.9.8 revived development after nearly a decade of little activity.
2017: Version 1.0 was released, followed by 2.0 with GMP, MPFR, reduced Glib dependency, libcurl exchange-rate retrieval, and a Windows installer.
2019: Version 3.0 implemented support for the 2019 SI base-unit redefinition.
2026: Version 5.11 was documented on the project homepage and manual.

Related projects

Qalculate! is organized around libqalculate plus qalc, qalculate-gtk, and qalculate-qt. It also intersects with GMP, MPFR, libcurl, and gnuplot in the package graph.

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.

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: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/qalculate/qalc.cfg~/.config/qalculate/qalc.cfg
Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Qalculate\qalc.cfg

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`qalc`	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 version5.12.0

manager updated

local dataunknown

upstreamnot available

latest detectednot detected

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:libqalculate
Version	5.12.0
Package manager	Homebrew
Homepage	https://qalculate.github.io/
Repository	https://github.com/Qalculate/libqalculate
Bottle	not recorded
Service	none declared

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

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.

combined/libqalculate.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
Nucleus package database
curated configuration and credential file locations
curated package history
pkgdb category and tag curation

Install libqalculate with Homebrew