# Install minizinc with Homebrew, apt, MacPorts, Nix, zypper Medium-level constraint modeling language. Version 2.10.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-23. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install minizinc. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:minizinc ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install minizinc ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install minizinc ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: devel/minizinc/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install minizinc ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: minizinc from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#minizinc ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/mi/minizinc/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install minizinc ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: minizinc from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:minizinc - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Version:** 2.10.0 - **Source summary:** Medium-level constraint modeling language - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Last updated:** 2026-07-23T09:38:26Z - **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00 ## Executables - minizinc (alias) - mzn2doc (alias) ## Install behavior - Bottle: not available ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-08-03 - Package-manager version: 2.10.0 ## Project history and usage MiniZinc is a free and open-source constraint modeling language for expressing constraint satisfaction and discrete optimization problems in a high-level, solver-independent form. The project is developed at Monash University with support from OPTIMA, and the libminizinc repository describes the compiler as translating MiniZinc models into FlatZinc, a solver input language understood by a wide range of solvers. ### Project history Its origins are unusually well documented. A history paper by Peter J. Stuckey, Guido Tack, and Maria Garcia de la Banda says MiniZinc was introduced in the CP2007 paper "MiniZinc: Towards a Standard CP Modelling Language" as a response to the lack of a common constraint-programming modeling language. The paper traces the language back to the G12 project, started in 2005, and to Zinc: MiniZinc was created as a stripped-down version of Zinc that compiled a model plus data instance into FlatZinc. The first MiniZinc version, 0.6, was released on September 23, 2007, the first day of CP2007. ### Adoption history Technically, MiniZinc's major contribution is the separation between modeling and solving. Modelers write .mzn models with parameters, decision variables, global constraints, and objectives; the minizinc compiler flattens a particular model/data pair into FlatZinc or another solver-facing form. That lets users try different solvers from the same model, while solver authors can support MiniZinc by providing FlatZinc interfaces and global-constraint definitions. ### How it is used Adoption is tied strongly to the constraint-programming research and optimization communities. The MiniZinc Challenge has run every year since 2008 to compare constraint solvers on shared benchmarks, and the history paper notes that the challenge encouraged solver implementers to provide compliant FlatZinc interfaces while building a public benchmark library. The same paper cites deployed and applied MiniZinc use in ship scheduling, optimization consulting, mission planning, automated configuration, cloud deployment, mobile robot planning, building automation, data acquisition, and preference elicitation. In Homebrew, the formula brings in solver-related dependencies such as Gecode and COIN-OR components, reflecting the package's role as a modeling frontend plus compiler rather than a single solver. ### Sources - - - - - - - ## Security Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - minizinc - 2.9.2+dfsg1-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: minizinc from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | constraint modelling language and tool chain | https://www.minizinc.org/ - Nix - minizinc: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/mi/minizinc/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - minizinc - 2.8.2+dfsg1-1build2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: minizinc from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | constraint modelling language and tool chain | https://www.minizinc.org/ - zypper - minizinc - 2.8.7-1.6: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: minizinc from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst | A high-level constraint modelling language | https://www.minizinc.org/ - MacPorts - minizinc: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: devel/minizinc/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/minizinc.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/minizinc.yml) ## Sources - pkg.so package database - Geiger risk classifier - curated package history - pkgdb category and tag curation - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph