macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install cairolocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install cairoMacPorts ports tree · graphics/cairo/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew
Install cairo with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper
Vector graphics library with cross-device output support. Version 1.18.4 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add cairoAlpine Linux edge package indexes · cairo · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install libcairo-gobject2Debian stable package indexes · libcairo-gobject2 · source: deb.debian.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install cairoFedora Rawhide package metadata · cairo · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#caironixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/ca/cairo/package.nix · source: api.github.com
Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S cairoArch Linux sync databases · cairo · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install cairo-developenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · cairo-devel · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
Vector graphics library with cross-device output support
Project links
Commands and aliases
- cairo-trace
history
Project history and usage
Cairo is a C 2D graphics library that provides a PostScript/PDF-like drawing API over multiple output backends, including X11, XCB, Quartz, Win32, image buffers, PDF, PostScript, and SVG.
Project history
The official repository README says cairo was originally developed by Carl Worth and Keith Packard. Cairo's early identity was a cross-device vector rendering library: the documentation archive points to a 2003 paper under the earlier Xr name and later cairo presentations from 2005.
The 1.0.0 release announcement on 2005-08-24 marked the stable API/ABI line for 1.x.y releases. At that point xlib, image, and win32 were supported backends, while Glitz, PostScript, PDF, Quartz, and XCB were experimental. Modern project documentation lists a wider set of supported targets, including PDF, PostScript, SVG, Quartz, Win32, Xlib, and XCB.
Cairo is tied closely to pixman for pixel compositing and to desktop text/rendering stacks through fontconfig, FreeType, platform font backends, and toolkit bindings. The project continues to publish releases through cairographics.org, with the official news page listing releases up to 1.18.4 in 2025.
Adoption history
Cairo became infrastructure rather than an end-user app. The official bindings page lists bindings for languages including C++, Haskell, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and others, and notes toolkit integration such as GTK+ 2.8+ support. That binding and toolkit spread made cairo a common dependency in Linux desktop, document, plotting, and image-generation software.
Package-manager adoption is broad: the input facts list Cairo across Homebrew, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Alpine, Arch, MacPorts, Nix, and openSUSE-style packaging. That breadth reflects cairo's role as a shared graphics primitive for higher-level applications.
How it is used
Developers use cairo to draw vector graphics, text, paths, patterns, and transformed/composited images to screen and file surfaces. Common package builds enable image, PNG, PDF, PostScript, SVG, Xlib, XCB, FreeType, fontconfig, Quartz, or Windows backends depending on platform needs.
The Homebrew package exposes cairo-trace, but most users consume cairo as a library dependency through headers, pkg-config metadata, and language bindings.
Why package nerds care
Cairo is one of those packages that explains why dependency graphs get deep: a small API surface at the application level hides years of rendering, font, backend, and platform compatibility work. For package nerds it is a foundational desktop graphics dependency, sitting between low-level raster compositing in pixman and higher-level toolkits, browsers, plotting libraries, and document renderers.
Its dual LGPL/MPL licensing, stable 1.x compatibility promise, backend matrix, and language bindings made it unusually reusable across open-source desktop stacks and proprietary-friendly distribution scenarios.
Timeline
- 2003: Xr-era cross-device vector rendering work precedes the cairo name.
- 2005: cairo 1.0.0 released with a stable 1.x compatibility promise.
- 2008: cairo 1.8.0 release appears in the official news archive.
- 2018: cairo 1.16.0 released.
- 2023: cairo 1.18.0 released.
- 2025: cairo 1.18.4 released.
Related projects
- pixman is the pixel-manipulation library used by cairo for image compositing.
- Language bindings and adjacent projects include pycairo, cairomm, rcairo, cairo-perl, cairo-ocaml, and cairocffi.
- GTK and other GUI toolkits use cairo as a drawing layer; cairo also targets document formats such as PDF, PostScript, and SVG.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: green
library-like package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- library-like package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:library-like
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
- Installs with 11 runtime dependencies.
- Build metadata lists 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
cairo-trace | 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 version1.18.4
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
- infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
- infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://cairographics.org/none confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:cairo |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.18.4 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/cairo |
| Homepage | https://cairographics.org/ |
| Repository | https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/cairo/cairo |
| Upstream docs | https://www.cairographics.org/documentation |
| License | LGPL-2.1-only OR MPL-1.1 |
| Source archive | https://cairographics.org/releases/cairo-1.18.4.tar.xz |
| Dependencies | fontconfig, freetype, gettext, glib, libpng, libx11, libxcb, libxext, libxrender, lzo, pixman |
| Build dependencies | meson, ninja, pkgconf |
| Bottle | available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, 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 | cairo |
| 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%
libcairo-gobject2 1.18.4-1+b1
Cairo 2D vector graphics library (GObject library)
sudo apt install libcairo-gobject2- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: cairo
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
Debian apt95%
libcairo-script-interpreter2 1.18.4-1+b1
Cairo 2D vector graphics library (script interpreter)
sudo apt install libcairo-script-interpreter2- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: cairo
- 6 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
Debian apt95%
libcairo2 1.18.4-1+b1
Cairo 2D vector graphics library
sudo apt install libcairo2- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: cairo
- 12 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
Debian apt95%
libcairo2-dev 1.18.4-1+b1
Development files for the Cairo 2D graphics library
sudo apt install libcairo2-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: cairo
- 15 dependencies
- 1 provides
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
Debian apt95%
libcairo2-doc 1.18.4-1
Documentation for the Cairo Multi-platform 2D graphics library
sudo apt install libcairo2-doc- Section: doc
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: cairo
- 2 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
Nix95%
cairo
nix profile install nixpkgs#cairo- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
Ubuntu apt95%
libcairo-gobject2 1.18.0-3build1
Cairo 2D vector graphics library (GObject library)
sudo apt install libcairo-gobject2- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: cairo
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
Ubuntu apt95%
libcairo-script-interpreter2 1.18.0-3build1
Cairo 2D vector graphics library (script interpreter)
sudo apt install libcairo-script-interpreter2- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: cairo
- 6 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
Ubuntu apt95%
libcairo2 1.18.0-3build1
Cairo 2D vector graphics library
sudo apt install libcairo2- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: cairo
- 12 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
Ubuntu apt95%
libcairo2-dev 1.18.0-3build1
Development files for the Cairo 2D graphics library
sudo apt install libcairo2-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: cairo
- 15 dependencies
- 1 provides
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
Ubuntu apt95%
libcairo2-doc 1.18.0-3build1
Documentation for the Cairo Multi-platform 2D graphics library
sudo apt install libcairo2-doc- Section: libs
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: cairo
- 2 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
apk95%
cairo 1.18.4-r1
A vector graphics library
sudo apk add cairo- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later OR MPL-1.1
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: cairo
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
apk95%
cairo-dbg 1.18.4-r1
A vector graphics library (debug symbols)
sudo apk add cairo-dbg- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later OR MPL-1.1
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: cairo
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
apk95%
cairo-dev 1.18.4-r1
A vector graphics library (development files)
sudo apk add cairo-dev- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later OR MPL-1.1
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: cairo
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
apk95%
cairo-doc 1.18.4-r1
A vector graphics library (documentation)
sudo apk add cairo-doc- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later OR MPL-1.1
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: cairo
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
apk95%
cairo-gobject 1.18.4-r1
A vector graphics library (gobject bindings)
sudo apk add cairo-gobject- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later OR MPL-1.1
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: cairo
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Cairo
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