# 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 ```sh sudo av install brew:fping ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install fping ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install fping ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: net/fping/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add fping ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: fping from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install fping ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: fping from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install fping ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: fping from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#fping ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/fp/fping/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S fping ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: fping from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install fping ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: fping from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:fping - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 5.5 - **Source summary:** Scriptable ping program for checking if multiple hosts are up - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** BSD-3-Clause - **Source archive:** - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - fping (cli) - fping (alias) ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 5.5 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://fping.org/ - info: No package-manager update timestamp was available. - info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories. ## 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. ### Sources - - - - ## Security Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** fping - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - fping - 5.1-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: fping from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | sends ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts | https://www.fping.org/ - Nix - fping: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/fp/fping/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - fping - 5.1-1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: fping from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | sends ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts | https://www.fping.org/ - apk - fping - 5.5-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: fping from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | A utility to ping multiple hosts at once | https://fping.org/ - apk - fping-doc - 5.5-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: fping-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | A utility to ping multiple hosts at once (documentation) | https://fping.org/ - dnf - fping - 5.5-1.fc44: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: fping from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Scriptable, parallelized ping-like utility | https://www.fping.org/ - pacman - fping - 5.5-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: fping from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Utility to ping multiple hosts at once | https://www.fping.org/ - zypper - fping - 5.5-1.3: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: fping from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | A program to ping multiple hosts | http://www.fping.org - MacPorts - fping: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: net/fping/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Related links - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Homebrew utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew-utility-packages/) - Matched Homebrew package provider. - [sntop](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/sntop/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [mtr](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/mtr/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking, ping. - [tracebox](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/tracebox/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, icmp, network-diagnostics, networking. - [trippy](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/trippy/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking, ping. - [twoping](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/twoping/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking, ping. - [cloudflare-speed-cli](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cloudflare-speed-cli/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking. - [fastrace](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/fastrace/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking. - [iputils](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/iputils/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, networking, ping. - [lft](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/lft/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, diagnostics, network-diagnostics, networking. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/fping.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/fping.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph