# Install zlog with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, apt

High-performance C logging library. Version 1.2.18 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install libzlog-dev.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:zlog
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install zlog
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install zlog
```

  Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: devel/zlog/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#zlog
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/zl/zlog/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install libzlog-dev
```

  Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: libzlog-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:zlog
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.2.18
- **Source summary:** High-performance C logging library
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/HardySimpson/zlog>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/HardySimpson/zlog>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- zlog-chk-conf (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.2.18
## Project history and usage

zlog is a pure-C logging library by Hardy Simpson, written to provide application-style logging features for C programs without external dependencies beyond POSIX and C runtime facilities.

### Project history

The GitHub repository was created in 2011. The README and user's guide explain the author's motivation directly: printf is hard to redirect or reformat, syslog is oriented toward system logging, and C lacked a convenient logging library comparable to logback or log4cxx for application developers.

The library's model centers on categories, formats, and rules. That makes it closer to configurable application logging frameworks than to a tiny header-only debug macro.

### Adoption history

Public source material is thin, but zlog persisted as a packaged C library because it solved a narrow systems-programming need: configurable, thread-aware logging with file rotation, multiple destinations, and a small dependency footprint.

### How it is used

A C program initializes zlog with a configuration file, obtains a category, writes messages through zlog macros or functions, and finalizes the library during shutdown. Configuration rules decide level, destination, and format, so logging behavior can change without recompiling the application.

The bundled zlog-chk-conf utility is useful for checking configuration files before an application relies on them.

### Why package nerds care

zlog is package-nerd glue: not flashy, but exactly the sort of small C library that shows up when older or portable software needs structured logging without adopting a large framework. Its documentation is unusually explicit about why it exists and what it replaces.

### Timeline

- 2011-12-27: The HardySimpson/zlog GitHub repository is created.
- 2010s: Documentation presents zlog as a pure-C alternative to printf, syslog, and log4c-style approaches for application logging.
- 2020s: zlog remains packaged as a small C logging library for Unix-like development environments.

### Related projects

- log4c, log4cxx, logback, syslog, and smaller C logging libraries such as log.c are adjacent points in the logging-library design space.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/HardySimpson/zlog>
- <https://github.com/HardySimpson/zlog>
- <https://hardysimpson.github.io/zlog/UsersGuide-EN.html>


## Security Notes

library-like package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- library-like package without higher-risk signals

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - libzlog-dev - 1.2.18-1+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libzlog-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | mutli features pure C logging library -- development files | https://github.com/HardySimpson/zlog
- Debian apt - libzlog1 - 1.2.18-1+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libzlog1 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | mutli features pure C logging library -- runtime library | https://github.com/HardySimpson/zlog
- Nix - zlog: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/zl/zlog/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- MacPorts - zlog: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: devel/zlog/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/zlog.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/zlog.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