Install jdnssec-tools with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• jdnssec-dstool
• jdnssec-keygen
• jdnssec-keyinfo
• jdnssec-signkeyset
• jdnssec-signrrset
• jdnssec-signzone
• jdnssec-tools
• jdnssec-verifyzone
• jdnssec-zoneformat

Project history

David Blacka authored the project and hosted its source on GitHub. The README ties the toolkit to dnsjava, Jakarta Commons CLI, slf4j, and Java cryptography support, which explains its role as a portable Java DNSSEC utility set rather than a daemon-centered DNS package.

The ChangeLog shows a long-maintained niche tool: release 0.10 appeared in 2011, release 0.12 in 2012, elliptic-curve DNSSEC algorithm support arrived in the 2016-2017 period, and later releases updated dnsjava, logging, DS algorithm handling, and distribution formats.

Adoption history

Adoption appears package-oriented and specialist: Homebrew packages it as jdnssec-tools, while the upstream project distributes source, binary tarballs, and an executable jar through GitHub releases. Its audience is DNSSEC operators and testers who want Java-based zone signing, key generation, and verification tools.

How it is used

The package exposes commands such as jdnssec-keygen, jdnssec-signzone, jdnssec-verifyzone, jdnssec-signrrset, and jdnssec-zoneformat. The README demonstrates unpacking a release and running tools from the bin directory, with a later one-jar invocation path using java -jar.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, jdnssec-tools is interesting because it packages DNSSEC maintenance primitives outside the usual BIND toolchain and keeps them tied to the Java DNS ecosystem. It is obscure, but it covers a real operational corner: reproducible command-line DNSSEC work in environments where Java is already the portable runtime.

Timeline

• 2011: ChangeLog records release 0.10 and refactoring of the command-line classes.
• 2012: Release 0.12 updated dnsjava integration and verification behavior.
• 2016: ECDSA P-256 and P-384 support was added for key generation, signing, and verification.
• 2022: Release 0.17 updated dnsjava, switched from log4j to slf4j, and added CDS record generation.
• 2024: Release 0.20 introduced Java 15 requirements for EdDSA support and a one-jar distribution.
• 2026: The ChangeLog records a dnsjava 3.6.4 update adding DNS RR type coverage such as SVCB, HTTPS, and ZONEMD.

Related projects

• Related projects include BIND 9, whose DNSSEC utilities are the comparison point in the README, and dnsjava, the Java DNS library on which jdnssec-tools depends.

Sources

• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/jdnssec-tools
• https://github.com/dblacka/jdnssec-tools
• https://github.com/dblacka/jdnssec-tools/blob/master/ChangeLog
• https://github.com/dblacka/jdnssec-tools/blob/master/README.md