macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install libsepollocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew / rank 8613
Install libsepol with Homebrew, apk, dnf, Nix, apt, zypper
SELinux binary policy manipulation library. Version 3.11 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install libsepol-dev.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add libsepolAlpine Linux edge package indexes · libsepol · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install libsepolFedora Rawhide package metadata · libsepol · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#libsepolnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/li/libsepol/package.nix · source: api.github.com
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install libsepol-devDebian stable package indexes · libsepol-dev · source: deb.debian.org
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install libsepol-developenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · libsepol-devel · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
SELinux binary policy manipulation library
Project links
Commands and aliases
- chkcon
- sepol_check_access
- sepol_compute_av
- sepol_compute_member
- sepol_compute_relabel
- sepol_validate_transition
history
Project history and usage
libsepol is the SELinux binary policy manipulation library. It sits below higher-level management tools and policy compilers, handling the compiled policy representation that the kernel consumes.
Project history
libsepol grew as part of the SELinux userspace stack, which was separated from the kernel-side mandatory access-control mechanism into libraries, compilers, and administrative tools. The SELinuxProject repository contains libsepol alongside libselinux, libsemanage, policycoreutils, checkpolicy, and secilc.
The upstream userspace package documentation describes secilc and checkpolicy as using libsepol to generate binary policy. It also describes libsemanage as relying on libsepol for binary policy manipulation and on libselinux for interaction with the running SELinux system.
Adoption history
libsepol's adoption followed SELinux adoption in distributions: it is packaged as a base SELinux userspace component rather than as a user-facing application. Systems that build, load, downgrade, inspect, or manage SELinux policy tend to pull in libsepol directly or indirectly.
The library is also useful outside a fully SELinux-enabled Linux system, because policy analysis and compilation workflows can run on systems that are not enforcing SELinux.
How it is used
Administrators usually touch libsepol indirectly through semodule, semanage, checkpolicy, secilc, load_policy, and related SELinux tools. The Homebrew formula exposes helper commands such as chkcon and sepol_check_access for policy-oriented checks.
For developers, libsepol is the lower-level library to use when the task is reading, writing, checking, or transforming SELinux binary policy rather than asking the running system for a process or file context.
Why package nerds care
libsepol is the package that reminds distro maintainers that SELinux is not one package: the enforcement model depends on a layered toolchain. libselinux is the runtime-facing layer, libsepol is the binary-policy layer, and libsemanage plus policycoreutils build the administrative experience above them.
Because Homebrew can build libsepol on macOS mainly for policy analysis, it is a neat example of a Linux security component whose most portable part is the file-format and compiler tooling.
Timeline
- 2001: NSA published SELinux technical reports on the original Linux kernel patch and Linux Security Module integration.
- 2008-09-09: The SELinux userspace release archive lists coordinated source tarball releases including libsepol.
- 2015-02-02: The userspace release archive includes libsepol 2.4 alongside libselinux 2.4 and related packages.
- 2026-02-02: SELinuxProject repository metadata records SELinux userspace release 3.10.
Related projects
- checkpolicy and secilc use libsepol to produce binary policy, libsemanage uses it when managing policy modules, libselinux may use it when loading policy, and policycoreutils provides many of the command-line tools around those libraries.
Sources
- https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux
- https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki
- https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki/Releases
- https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki/Userspace-Packages
- https://www.nsa.gov/Research/Technical-Papers-Brochures/smdpage14229/2/smdsort14229/description/
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
chkcon | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
sepol_check_access | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
sepol_compute_av | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
sepol_compute_member | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
sepol_compute_relabel | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
sepol_validate_transition | 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 version3.11
manager updated
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:libsepol |
|---|---|
| Version | 3.11 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux |
| Repository | https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux |
| 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%
libsepol-dev 3.8.1-1
SELinux binary policy manipulation library and development files
sudo apt install libsepol-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
Debian apt95%
libsepol2 3.8.1-1
SELinux library for manipulating binary security policies
sudo apt install libsepol2- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
Debian apt95%
sepol-utils 3.8.1-1
Security Enhanced Linux policy utility programs
sudo apt install sepol-utils- Section: admin
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
Nix95%
libsepol
nix profile install nixpkgs#libsepol- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
Ubuntu apt95%
libsepol-dev 3.5-2build1
SELinux binary policy manipulation library and development files
sudo apt install libsepol-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
Ubuntu apt95%
libsepol2 3.5-2build1
SELinux library for manipulating binary security policies
sudo apt install libsepol2- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
Ubuntu apt95%
sepol-utils 3.5-2build1
Security Enhanced Linux policy utility programs
sudo apt install sepol-utils- Section: universe/misc
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
apk95%
libsepol 3.11-r0
SELinux binary policy manipulation library
https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki
sudo apk add libsepol- License: LGPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
apk95%
libsepol-dev 3.11-r0
SELinux binary policy manipulation library (development files)
https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki
sudo apk add libsepol-dev- License: LGPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
apk95%
libsepol-doc 3.11-r0
SELinux binary policy manipulation library (documentation)
https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki
sudo apk add libsepol-doc- License: LGPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libsepol
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
dnf95%
libsepol 3.11-2.fc45
SELinux binary policy manipulation library
https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki
sudo dnf install libsepol- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: libsepol
- 2 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
dnf95%
libsepol-devel 3.11-2.fc45
Header files and libraries used to build policy manipulation tools
https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki
sudo dnf install libsepol-devel- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: libsepol
- 3 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
dnf95%
libsepol-static 3.11-2.fc45
static libraries used to build policy manipulation tools
https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki
sudo dnf install libsepol-static- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: libsepol
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
dnf95%
libsepol-utils 3.11-2.fc45
SELinux libsepol utilities
https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki
sudo dnf install libsepol-utils- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 4 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
zypper95%
libsepol-devel 3.11-1.2
Development files for SELinux's binary policy manipulation library
https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki/Releases
sudo zypper install libsepol-devel- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later
- Category: Development/Libraries/C and C++
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 3 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
zypper95%
libsepol-devel-static 3.11-1.2
Static archives for SELinux's binary policy manipulation library
https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux/wiki/Releases
sudo zypper install libsepol-devel-static- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later
- Category: Development/Libraries/C and C++
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libsepol
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libsepol
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