Install bareos-client with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• bareos-fd
• bconsole
• btraceback

Project history

Bareos began as a fork of Bacula 5.2. The official documentation says Marco van Wieringen started collecting rejected or neglected Bacula community contributions in a branch in 2010, and that branch later became the basis of Bareos.

The client package matters because Bareos is split into Director, Console, File Daemon, Storage Daemon, and catalog components. The File Daemon is installed on machines to be backed up and is responsible for finding files, sending data to storage, and restoring attributes and data when requested.

The project has continued as a large open-source backup suite with AGPL licensing, packaged clients for Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, Windows, and other systems, and ongoing release lines documented through GitHub and the Bareos manual.

Adoption history

Bareos adoption comes from sites that need network backup, cataloged restores, and centralized administration rather than ad hoc tar or dump jobs. The project documents package sets for client, server, console, storage, WebUI, and plugins, while the Homebrew formula exposes the macOS client-side tooling.

How it is used

A Bareos client normally runs the File Daemon on a protected host and uses bconsole to communicate with a Bareos Director. Configuration and credentials are closely related because daemon and console configuration files include names, addresses, and shared secrets used to authenticate with the Director.

Why package nerds care

Bareos is package-nerd significant because it is a service-oriented backup stack with split packages, daemon config directories, generated defaults, database/catalog dependencies, plugins, and cross-platform client packaging. The client formula is a small entry point into a much larger operational backup ecosystem.

Timeline

• 2010: Marco van Wieringen starts collecting Bacula community contributions in a separate branch.
• 2012: Bareos emerges from the Bacula 5.2 fork lineage.
• 2020: Bareos versioning policy moves to semantic versioning for versions 20.0.0 and later.
• 2025: Bareos 25 release notes add plugins and platform improvements such as Windows disaster recovery imaging, Proxmox, and Hyper-V support.
• 2026: Bareos 25.0.x, 24.0.x, and 23.1.x maintenance releases continue on GitHub.

Related projects

• Bareos is directly related to Bacula through its fork history. It also occupies the same systems-backup space as Amanda, Borg, Restic, commercial network backup suites, and lower-level Unix tools such as tar and dump, but with a cataloged client/server architecture.

Sources

• https://docs.bareos.org/master/Appendix/ReleaseNotes.html
• https://docs.bareos.org/master/IntroductionAndTutorial/WhatIsBareos.html
• https://github.com/bareos/bareos/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md
• https://github.com/bareos/bareos/blob/master/README.md
• source_facts.repo