macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install ballerburglocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew
Install ballerburg with Homebrew, apt, dnf, Nix, zypper
Castle combat game. Version 1.2.3 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-18.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install ballerburgDebian stable package indexes · ballerburg · source: deb.debian.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install ballerburgFedora Rawhide package metadata · ballerburg · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#ballerburgnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/ba/ballerburg/package.nix · source: api.github.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install ballerburgopenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · ballerburg · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
Castle combat game
Project links
Commands and aliases
- ballerburg
history
Project history and usage
Ballerburg SDL is a free-software port of the classic Ballerburg castle-combat game to SDL-supported modern systems. Its historical interest is retrocomputing: an Atari ST game from 1987 made buildable and packageable for contemporary Unix-like desktops.
Project history
The official Ballerburg SDL site says Ballerburg was originally written in 1987 by Eckhard Kruse for the then-new Atari ST machines. It also credits Kruse for releasing the source, enabling a later adaptation of the original source code to modern operating systems using SDL.
The current FramaGit project describes Ballerburg SDL as a classical castle combat game for GNU/Linux and other SDL-supported systems, where two castles fire cannonballs over a mountain until one king is defeated or capitulates.
Adoption history
Ballerburg's adoption is niche but unusually long-lived: the official site links to Fedora, Debian, and Ubuntu packages and lists related ports or reimplementations, while the input facts include Homebrew, Debian, Fedora, Nix, Ubuntu, and zypper packaging.
The Homebrew formula API reported stable version 1.2.3 with 39 installs in the previous 30 days as of June 30, 2026.
How it is used
The package installs the `ballerburg` executable. Users play a two-castle artillery game where economic choices, tower building, cannon aiming, terrain, and the opponent's king determine the match.
Why package nerds care
Ballerburg is the kind of package that keeps distribution archives charming: a small SDL port preserving an Atari ST game in source form, with enough portability to appear across Linux distributions and Homebrew. It is not infrastructure, but it is a useful example of retro software surviving through package managers.
Timeline
- 1987: Original Ballerburg written by Eckhard Kruse for Atari ST machines.
- 2025-02-12: Current FramaGit project metadata reports the repository creation date.
- 2026-06-30: Homebrew formula reports stable ballerburg 1.2.3.
Related projects
- The official site links to the original Eckhard Kruse Ballerburg page.
- The official site also lists related projects including Ballerr, Ballerburg OS X, and a Ballerburg X11-Basic reimplementation.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: green
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:no-higher-risk-signals
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 8 platform targets.
- Installs with 1 runtime dependencies.
- Build metadata lists 1 build dependencies.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
ballerburg | cli | global executable |
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 generated2026-07-08
manager version1.2.3
manager updated2026-06-18
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
- infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://baller.frama.io/none confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:ballerburg |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.2.3 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/ballerburg |
| Homepage | https://baller.frama.io/ |
| Repository | https://framagit.org/baller/ballerburg |
| Upstream docs | https://baller.frama.io/ |
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Source archive | https://framagit.org/baller/ballerburg/-/archive/v1.2.3/ballerburg-v1.2.3.tar.bz2 |
| Last updated | 2026-06-18T02:28:55-04:00 |
| Pulse | updated |
| Dependencies | sdl2-compat |
| Build dependencies | cmake |
| Bottle | available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux) |
| Homebrew post-install | not defined |
| Service | none declared |
registry facts
Source database details
| Source Database | Homebrew formula API |
|---|---|
| Tap | homebrew/core |
| Full Name | ballerburg |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 0 |
| Head Version | HEAD |
| Bottle Stable Root URL | https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core |
| Deprecated | no |
| Disabled | no |
| Keg Only | no |
| URL Keys |
|
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%
ballerburg 1.2.2-4
Classical castle combat game
sudo apt install ballerburg- Section: games
- Architecture: amd64
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Ballerburg
Nix95%
ballerburg
nix profile install nixpkgs#ballerburg- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Ballerburg
Ubuntu apt95%
ballerburg 1.2.1-1
Classical castle combat game
sudo apt install ballerburg- Section: universe/games
- Architecture: amd64
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Ballerburg
dnf95%
ballerburg 1.2.3-5.fc44
Two players, two castles, and a hill in between
sudo dnf install ballerburg- License: GPL-3.0-or-later
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: ballerburg
- 5 dependencies
- 3 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Ballerburg
zypper95%
ballerburg 1.2.3-1.4
Two players, two castles, and a hill in between
sudo zypper install ballerburg- License: GPL-3.0-only
- Category: Amusements/Games/Action/Arcade
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: ballerburg
- 3 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Ballerburg
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
- Nucleus package database
- av.db category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- package relationship graph
- package version freshness
- package-page enrichment