macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install flowgrindlocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew
Install flowgrind with Homebrew, apt, zypper
TCP measurement tool, similar to iperf or netperf. Version 0.8.2 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install flowgrindDebian stable package indexes · flowgrind · source: deb.debian.org
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install flowgrindopenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · flowgrind · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
TCP measurement tool, similar to iperf or netperf
Project links
Commands and aliases
- flowgrind
- flowgrind-stop
- flowgrindd
history
Project history and usage
Flowgrind is an advanced TCP traffic generator and measurement tool for benchmarking TCP/IP stacks on Linux, FreeBSD, and macOS.
Project history
The project's NEWS file records an initial 0.1 release in November 2006. Its README positions Flowgrind as a distributed TCP measurement tool, similar in broad purpose to iperf and netperf but with a controller and daemon architecture.
Through the 2010s, official release notes added traffic-generation features, libpcap dumping, FreeBSD support, IPv6 support, GPLv3 licensing, Mac OS X support, UUID-based daemon identification, and compatibility fixes. The project later moved its website to flowgrind.github.io.
Adoption history
Flowgrind has been packaged as a niche but durable network-measurement utility for operators and researchers who need controlled TCP experiments across multiple endpoints. Its official README emphasizes third-party tests, parallel flows, transport-layer metrics, and optional separation of control and test traffic.
How it is used
A normal test starts flowgrindd on endpoint machines and runs flowgrind from a controller host with source and destination hosts passed through -H. The controller can schedule multiple flows, collect periodic results, and display measurements from the daemons.
Flowgrind measures throughput, interarrival time, round-trip time, block counts, transactions per second, and, where supported by the OS, TCP stack details such as congestion window and slow-start threshold.
Why package nerds care
Flowgrind is package-interesting because it sits beside iperf and netperf but exposes a more distributed RPC-style model. Packaging it means shipping both the controller and daemon binaries plus native dependencies such as xmlrpc-c, uuid, libpcap, and GSL.
Timeline
- 2006: Flowgrind 0.1 initial release.
- 2010: Flowgrind 0.5 adds libpcap support and advanced traffic-generation dependencies.
- 2013: Flowgrind 0.6 adds full IPv6 support for control and test connections.
- 2014: Flowgrind 0.7.1 changes license to GPLv3; 0.7.5 re-adds Mac OS X support.
- 2016: Flowgrind 0.8.0 introduces UUID daemon identification and many bug fixes.
- 2021: Flowgrind 0.8.1 moves the website to flowgrind.github.io; 0.8.2 updates packaging and version fixes.
Related projects
- The official README explicitly names iperf3 and netperf as related TCP measurement tools.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: green
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:no-higher-risk-signals
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
- Installs with 2 runtime 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
flowgrind | cli | global executable | |
flowgrind-stop | cli | global executable | |
flowgrindd | 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 version0.8.2
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
https://github.com/flowgrind/flowgrind
- infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
- infoNo cached GitHub release or tag data was available.https://github.com/flowgrind/flowgrindnone confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:flowgrind |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.8.2 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/flowgrind |
| Homepage | https://flowgrind.github.io |
| Repository | https://github.com/flowgrind/flowgrind |
| Upstream docs | https://flowgrind.github.io/ |
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Source archive | https://github.com/flowgrind/flowgrind/releases/download/flowgrind-0.8.2/flowgrind-0.8.2.tar.bz2 |
| Dependencies | gsl, xmlrpc-c |
| Uses from macOS | libpcap |
| 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 | flowgrind |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 4 |
| 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%
flowgrind 0.8.2-2+b4
Distributed network performance measurement tool
sudo apt install flowgrind- Section: net
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: flowgrind
- 6 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Flowgrind
Debian apt95%
flowgrind-dbg 0.8.2-2+b4
Debugging version of flowgrind
sudo apt install flowgrind-dbg- Section: debug
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: flowgrind
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Flowgrind
Ubuntu apt95%
flowgrind 0.8.2-2build3
Distributed network performance measurement tool
sudo apt install flowgrind- Section: universe/net
- Architecture: amd64
- 5 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Flowgrind
Ubuntu apt95%
flowgrind-dbg 0.8.2-2build3
Debugging version of flowgrind
sudo apt install flowgrind-dbg- Section: universe/debug
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: flowgrind
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Flowgrind
zypper95%
flowgrind 0.8.2-2.1
Network performance measurement
sudo zypper install flowgrind- License: GPL-2.0-only
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: flowgrind
- 11 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Flowgrind
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