Automic VaultAutomic Vault

brew

Install fping with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Scriptable ping program for checking if multiple hosts are up. Version 5.5 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install fping

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install fping

MacPorts ports tree · net/fping/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add fping

Alpine Linux edge package indexes · fping · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org

Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install fping

Debian stable package indexes · fping · source: deb.debian.org

Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install fping

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · fping · source: dl.fedoraproject.org

Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#fping

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

Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S fping

Arch Linux sync databases · fping · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com

openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install fping

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · fping · source: download.opensuse.org

overview

Package summary

Scriptable ping program for checking if multiple hosts are up

Commands and aliases

  • fping

history

Project history and usage

fping is a scriptable ICMP echo tool for checking many hosts. Its man page describes it as ping-like, but designed to send probes to multiple targets in round-robin fashion and to produce parseable output for scripts.

Project history

The official homepage says Roland Schemers published the first version in 1992. It also records a long maintenance gap: no official release appeared from 2002 until the end of 2011, after which David Schweikert took over maintainership and called the new line version 3.

Version 3 incorporated Debian patches, Tobias Oetiker's SmokePing modifications, and a rewritten main loop intended to improve performance. The current official site points users to release source distributions and the GitHub repository for latest sources.

Adoption history

The official homepage says fping has established itself as a standard tool for network diagnostics and statistics. It also names Debian, Gentoo, and Archlinux as examples of distributions providing fping packages.

Its adoption has been helped by the difference from traditional ping: administrators can feed it many hosts, generated ranges, or files, and use its output in monitoring scripts.

How it is used

fping sends ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to targets, moves on rather than waiting on one host, removes hosts from the active list when they reply, and marks hosts unreachable after timeout or retry limits.

Common package-manager users care about options such as alive/unreachable filtering, count mode, looping, generated address ranges, per-target statistics, timestamped output, and machine-friendly output for monitoring systems.

Why package nerds care

fping is package-nerd significant because it is one of the classic small C networking utilities whose behavior is different enough from the base-system ping to justify a separate package everywhere.

It is also historically interesting because downstream patches and monitoring-tool modifications accumulated during an upstream lull, then were folded into a revived upstream line in version 3.

Timeline

  • 1992: Roland Schemers published the first version.
  • 2002-2011: No official upstream fping release.
  • 2011: New maintainership began and version 3 marked the handoff.
  • 2020: fping 5.0 released with incompatible output-size and loop/count behavior changes.
  • 2025: fping 5.5 released with JSON output and IPv6 address generation support.

Related projects

  • ping is the baseline tool fping intentionally differs from.
  • SmokePing is explicitly mentioned in the version 3 announcement because Tobias Oetiker's modifications were incorporated.
  • Netdata is related through fping output support documented in the man page and changelog.

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.

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
fpingcliglobal 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 version5.5
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected

https://fping.org/

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

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:fping
Version5.5
Package managerHomebrew
Package manager pagehttps://formulae.brew.sh/formula/fping
Homepagehttps://fping.org/
Repositoryhttps://github.com/schweikert/fping
Upstream docshttps://fping.org/fping.8.html
LicenseBSD-3-Clause
Source archivehttps://fping.org/dist/fping-5.5.tar.gz
Bottleavailable (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-installnot defined
Servicenone declared

registry facts

Source database details

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

Debian apt95%

fping 5.1-1

sends ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts

https://www.fping.org/

sudo apt install fping
  • Section: net
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 3 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Fping
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: fping from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Nix95%

fping

nix profile install nixpkgs#fping
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Fping
nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/fp/fping/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
Ubuntu apt95%

fping 5.1-1

sends ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts

https://www.fping.org/

sudo apt install fping
  • Section: universe/net
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 3 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Fping
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: fping from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
apk95%

fping 5.5-r0

A utility to ping multiple hosts at once

https://fping.org/

sudo apk add fping
  • License: MIT
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: fping
  • 1 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Fping
Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: fping from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
apk95%

fping-doc 5.5-r0

A utility to ping multiple hosts at once (documentation)

https://fping.org/

sudo apk add fping-doc
  • License: MIT
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: fping
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Fping
Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: fping-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
dnf95%

fping 5.5-1.fc44

Scriptable, parallelized ping-like utility

https://www.fping.org/

sudo dnf install fping
  • License: BSD-4.3TAHOE
  • Category: Unspecified
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: fping
  • 3 dependencies
  • 2 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Fping
Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: fping from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst
pacman95%

fping 5.5-1

Utility to ping multiple hosts at once

https://www.fping.org/

sudo pacman -S fping
  • License: custom
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • 1 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Fping
Arch Linux sync databases · geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com · Arch Linux sync databases: fping from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz
zypper95%

fping 5.5-1.3

A program to ping multiple hosts

http://www.fping.org

sudo zypper install fping
  • License: MIT
  • Category: Productivity/Networking/Diagnostic
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: fping
  • 2 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Fping
openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: fping from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst
MacPorts95%

fping

sudo port install fping
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Fping
MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: net/fping/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/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.

Related tools

  • sntopPopular package that depends on this formula.

Same workflow

  • mtrShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking, ping.
  • traceboxShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, icmp, network-diagnostics, networking.
  • trippyShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking, ping.
  • twopingShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking, ping.
  • cloudflare-speed-cliShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking.
  • fastraceShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking.

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