# Install bochs with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, scoop, winget Open source IA-32 (x86) PC emulator written in C++. Version 3.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-18. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:bochs ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install bochs ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install bochs ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: emulators/bochs/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add bochs ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: bochs from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install bochs ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: bochs from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install bochs ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: bochs from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#bochs ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/bo/bochs/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Windows - Scoop (92%): ```sh scoop install main/bochs ``` Evidence: Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/bochs.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - winget (92%): ```sh winget install --id Bochs.Bochs -e ``` Evidence: Windows Package Manager source index: Bochs.Bochs from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:bochs - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 3.0 - **Source summary:** Open source IA-32 (x86) PC emulator written in C++ - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** LGPL-2.0-or-later - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-06-18T02:28:55-04:00 - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - bochs (cli) - bximage (cli) - bochs (alias) - bximage (alias) ## Dependencies - libtool - sdl2-compat ## Build dependencies - pkgconf ## Uses from macOS - ncurses ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 3.0 - Package-manager updated: 2026-06-18 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://bochs.sourceforge.io/ - info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories. ## Project history and usage Bochs is a portable, open source IA-32 and x86-64 PC emulator written in C++. Its value is accuracy and portability: it simulates a whole PC, including CPU, BIOS, and devices, rather than relying on host CPU virtualization. ### Project history Bochs began in 1994 as Kevin Lawton's commercial PC emulator. The official user manual says MandrakeSoft bought Bochs and released it as open source under the GNU LGPL in March 2000, then project activity moved to SourceForge in March 2001. The project continued as a long-lived emulator and hardware-modeling codebase. Its official home page describes it as capable of running operating systems such as Linux, DOS, Microsoft Windows, BSD variants, and others inside a simulated x86 machine. Bochs 3.0 was released on February 16, 2025. The official release notes highlight debugger availability in release binaries, softfloat3e integration, CPU correctness fixes, AVX512_FP16, AVX10, AMX, and other modern x86 instruction-set work, showing that the old emulator still tracks current CPU behavior. ### Adoption history Bochs was historically adopted by operating-system developers, emulator users, educators, and hardware-modeling tinkerers who cared more about inspection and portability than raw speed. The official site notes SourceForge activity around release times, and the input package facts list packaging across Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Alpine, Nix, MacPorts, Scoop, and winget. Its adoption path differs from virtualization tools such as VMware or VirtualBox: Bochs became a package-manager staple because it is small enough to ship widely, scriptable, and useful on hosts that cannot or should not run native virtualization. ### How it is used Typical usage is to boot a disk image or installed guest operating system under a `.bochsrc` configuration, optionally using tools such as `bximage` to create disk images. It is especially useful when deterministic emulation, debugger support, BIOS/device modeling, or non-native host portability matter. ### Why package nerds care Bochs is package-nerd significant because it is one of the classic open source PC emulators that survived multiple eras: pre-virtualization desktop emulation, SourceForge-era open source packaging, teaching OS development, and modern instruction-set correctness work. For distribution maintainers, Bochs is a compact but serious systems package: it combines a CPU emulator, BIOS pieces, GUI backends, disk-image tooling, configuration files, and optional debugger behavior, which makes it a useful test of build flags and platform assumptions. ### Timeline - 1994: Kevin Lawton starts Bochs. - 2000: MandrakeSoft buys Bochs and releases it under the GNU LGPL. - 2001: Bochs project activity moves from bochs.com to SourceForge. - 2011: Bochs 2.5 is released, noted by the project as the first release from SVN. - 2022: The Bochs source tree starts transitioning from SVN to GitHub-hosted Git. - 2025: Bochs 3.0 is released with debugger, CPU, device, and documentation updates. ### Related projects - Related projects include QEMU, VirtualBox, VMware, PCem, DOSBox, and other x86 emulators or virtualizers. Bochs is distinct from many of them because it emphasizes portable full software simulation rather than native-speed virtualization. ### Sources - - - - input.source_facts.package-manager ## Security Notes broad file, network, media, or database tool signal. - **Geiger risk:** blue / medium - broad file, network, media, or database tool signal ## Configuration and credential file locations These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval. ## Configuration files - Unix: .bochsrc in the current directory, bochsrc in the current directory, bochsrc.txt in the current directory, ~/.bochsrc, /etc/bochsrc - Windows: .bochsrc in the current directory, bochsrc in the current directory, bochsrc.txt in the current directory, bochsrc.bxrc in the current directory ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** bochs - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - bochs - 3.0+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: bochs from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | IA-32 PC emulator | https://bochs.sourceforge.io/ - Debian apt - bochs-doc - 3.0+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: bochs-doc from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Bochs upstream documentation | https://bochs.sourceforge.io/ - Debian apt - bochs-sdl - 3.0+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: bochs-sdl from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | SDL plugin for Bochs | https://bochs.sourceforge.io/ - Debian apt - bochs-term - 3.0+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: bochs-term from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Terminal (ncurses-based) plugin for Bochs | https://bochs.sourceforge.io/ - Debian apt - bochs-wx - 3.0+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: bochs-wx from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | WxWindows plugin for Bochs | https://bochs.sourceforge.io/ - Debian apt - bochs-x - 3.0+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: bochs-x from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | X11 plugin for Bochs | https://bochs.sourceforge.io/ - Debian apt - bochsbios - 3.0+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: bochsbios from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | BIOS for the Bochs emulator | https://bochs.sourceforge.io/ - Debian apt - bximage - 3.0+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: bximage from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Disk Image Creation Tool for Bochs | https://bochs.sourceforge.io/ - Nix - bochs: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/bo/bochs/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - bochs - 2.7+dfsg-4build5: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: bochs from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | IA-32 PC emulator | http://bochs.sourceforge.net/ - Ubuntu apt - bochs-doc - 2.7+dfsg-4build5: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: bochs-doc from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Bochs upstream documentation | http://bochs.sourceforge.net/ - Ubuntu apt - bochs-sdl - 2.7+dfsg-4build5: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: bochs-sdl from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | SDL plugin for Bochs | http://bochs.sourceforge.net/ - Ubuntu apt - bochs-term - 2.7+dfsg-4build5: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: bochs-term from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Terminal (ncurses-based) plugin for Bochs | http://bochs.sourceforge.net/ - Ubuntu apt - bochs-wx - 2.7+dfsg-4build5: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: bochs-wx from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | WxWindows plugin for Bochs | http://bochs.sourceforge.net/ - Ubuntu apt - bochs-x - 2.7+dfsg-4build5: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: bochs-x from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | X11 plugin for Bochs | http://bochs.sourceforge.net/ - Ubuntu apt - bochsbios - 2.7+dfsg-4build5: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: bochsbios from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | BIOS for the Bochs emulator | http://bochs.sourceforge.net/ ## Related links - [Secret-risk packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/secret-risk-packages/) - Has protected-tool coverage, approval-gate, or non-low Geiger security signals. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Text processing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/text-processing-tools/) - Matched text, document, or structured-data processing metadata. - [Developer build packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/developer-build-tools/) - Matched build, compiler, generator, or developer workflow metadata. - [libtool](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libtool/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [sdl2-compat](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/sdl2-compat/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [pkgconf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pkgconf/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [zxcc](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/zxcc/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, emulation, emulator. - [wy60](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/wy60/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, emulation. - [aarch64-elf-gcc](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/aarch64-elf-gcc/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-plus-plus, cli, developer-tools. - [astyle](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/astyle/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-plus-plus, cli, developer-tools. - [brpc](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/brpc/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-plus-plus, cli, developer-tools. - [build2](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/build2/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-plus-plus, cli, developer-tools. - [castxml](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/castxml/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-plus-plus, cli, developer-tools. - [cbmc](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cbmc/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c-plus-plus, cli, developer-tools. - [nift](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/nift/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: c-plus-plus, cli, developer, developer-tools, open. - [gource](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gource/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cli, compat, developer, developer-tools, sdl2. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/bochs.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/bochs.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated configuration and credential file locations - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph