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brew

Install empty with Homebrew, Nix

Lightweight Expect-like PTY tool for shell scripts. Version 0.6.23d via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install empty

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#empty

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/em/empty/package.nix · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

Lightweight Expect-like PTY tool for shell scripts

Commands and aliases

  • empty

history

Project history and usage

`empty` is a lightweight Unix PTY automation tool meant to let shell scripts drive interactive programs without pulling in Tcl/Expect, Perl, Python, or a larger scripting runtime.

Project history

The official site says `empty` was written by Mikhail E. Zakharov, based on the idea of Daniel J. Bernstein's pty-4.0 but without porting pty-4.0 code. Its copyright notice spans 2005 to 2020.

Adoption history

The project page lists successful compilation and testing on a broad set of Unix-like systems, including BSDs, macOS, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, OSF1, and Cygwin. That portability is the main adoption story rather than a large ecosystem.

How it is used

`empty` runs a process under a pseudo-terminal and then sends or waits for text through named input and output files. The homepage compares a short telnet login sequence against Tcl/Expect, Perl Expect, and Python Pexpect examples.

Why package nerds care

The package is interesting because it keeps the old Unix promise small: PTY scripting from plain shell, entirely in C, with minimal dependencies. It is the sort of utility that survives in package managers because it solves one awkward automation job without dragging in a language stack.

Related projects

  • The homepage compares `empty` directly with Tcl/Expect, Perl Expect, and Python Pexpect, and notes the conceptual link to pty-4.0.

security posture

Risk level: yellow

generalized runtime or code generation signal.

Risk classifier

yellow risk · medium confidence · runtime

Why

  • generalized runtime or code generation signal

Signals

  • text:shell

Install behavior

  • No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
  • Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 8 platform targets.

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

CommandKindExposureNote
emptycliglobal 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 version0.6.23d
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected

https://empty.sourceforge.net/

  • infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
  • infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://empty.sourceforge.net/none confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:empty
Version0.6.23d
Package managerHomebrew
Package manager pagehttps://formulae.brew.sh/formula/empty
Homepagehttps://empty.sourceforge.net/
Repositoryhttps://sourceforge.net/p/empty/code
Upstream docshttps://empty.sourceforge.net/
LicenseBSD-3-Clause
Source archivehttps://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/empty/empty/empty-0.6.23d/empty-0.6.23d.tgz
Bottleavailable (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-installnot defined
Servicenone declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source DatabaseHomebrew formula API
Taphomebrew/core
Full Nameempty
Version Scheme0
Revision0
Bottle Stable Root URLhttps://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecatedno
Disabledno
Keg Onlyno
URL Keys
  • stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Nix95%

empty

nix profile install nixpkgs#empty
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Empty
nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/em/empty/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

Same workflow

  • sexpectShares av.db curated category or tags: automation, cli, developer-tools, expect, pty.
  • ahoyShares av.db curated category or tags: automation, cli, developer-tools.
  • cliveShares av.db curated category or tags: automation, cli, developer-tools.
  • cmdshelfShares av.db curated category or tags: automation, cli, developer-tools.
  • docker-genShares av.db curated category or tags: automation, cli, developer-tools.
  • entrShares av.db curated category or tags: automation, cli, developer-tools.

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.

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