Install btdu with Homebrew, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• btdu

Project history

CyberShadow started btdu in November 2020, with the first public release tag v0.1.0 shortly afterward. The project is written for the btrfs filesystem and uses sampling over filesystem space rather than a conventional recursive directory traversal.

The README explains that btdu samples random points in the disk space, asks btrfs what is stored there, records a representative path, and repeats indefinitely. The result is initially approximate but becomes progressively more accurate as sampling continues.

Adoption history

btdu has a narrower audience than general disk analyzers, but the README documents several distribution paths: native distro packages where available, static binaries from GitHub releases, latest CI builds, Nix flakes, and source builds using the D compiler and Dub.

The Homebrew and Nix packaging in the input reflects that btrfs users often still want btdu available from cross-platform package managers even though its runtime target is btrfs rather than generic macOS storage.

How it is used

Users run btdu with root privileges against the top-level subvolume of a btrfs filesystem. It can launch an interactive terminal UI, run headless for scripts, export and import sampling results, compare baselines, and use expert or physical-space modes for deeper analysis.

Why package nerds care

btdu is significant because it packages filesystem theory into a small terminal tool. It is not another ncdu clone; it is a btrfs-specific answer to shared extents, compression, snapshots, unreachable extent fragments, and logical-versus-physical allocation.

Timeline

• 2020: First git commit and v0.1.0 release.
• 2025: v0.6.0 release appears in git history.
• 2026: v0.7.2 release appears in git history.

Related projects

• The README contrasts btdu with ncdu for classic disk-usage analysis.
• The README links compsize as a special-purpose btrfs compression-space tool.
• The README names btsdu, the Btrfs Snapshot Disk Usage Analyzer, in its See Also section.

Sources

• Local git history from https://github.com/CyberShadow/btdu shows first commit in 2020 and release tags v0.1.0, v0.6.0, and v0.7.2.
• Official CONCEPTS.md explains logical versus physical space and btdu size metrics: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CyberShadow/btdu/master/CONCEPTS.md
• Official README describes btdu as a sampling disk usage profiler for btrfs and explains the random sampling algorithm: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CyberShadow/btdu/master/README.md
• Official README documents use cases, install paths, root/top-level-subvolume usage, headless mode, import/export, compare mode, and See Also: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CyberShadow/btdu/master/README.md