Automic VaultAutomic Vault

brew

Install lastz with Homebrew, apt

Pairwise aligner for DNA sequences. Version 1.04.52 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install lastz

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install lastz

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

overview

Package summary

Pairwise aligner for DNA sequences

Commands and aliases

  • lastz
  • lastz_D

history

Project history and usage

LASTZ is a pairwise DNA sequence aligner and the successor-style, command-line-compatible replacement for BLASTZ. It is used for comparing genomic sequences and can emit formats used by genome-alignment pipelines, including LAV, AXT, MAF, SAM, CIGAR, PAF, and human-readable output.

Project history

The official documentation presents LASTZ as a drop-in replacement for BLASTZ that preserves BLASTZ command-line syntax while adding options and correcting behavioral problems. Its documentation includes an explicit section on differences from BLASTZ, such as fixes to alignment-boundary behavior, premature termination, chaining overflow, ambiguity handling, and additional output formats.

The GitHub repository was created on 2016-08-11 and is described by the project as the official working branch, with users encouraged to use tagged releases. Tagged 1.04.x releases continued the project's bioinformatics-maintenance role after the BLASTZ era.

Adoption history

LASTZ is packaged in Homebrew, Debian, and Ubuntu and appears in high-performance-computing genomics documentation because pairwise whole-genome and read-to-reference alignment remain recurring batch-computing tasks. Its BLASTZ compatibility helped existing workflows migrate without rewriting every command line.

The adoption pattern is typical of scientific command-line tools: a stable executable, long HTML manual, tagged source releases, and distribution packages matter more than a polished end-user application interface.

How it is used

Users run `lastz` with target and query sequences plus scoring, seeding, masking, chaining, and output-format options. The manual's examples cover comparing chromosomes, aligning shotgun reads to a chromosome, self-alignment, and working with seed, HSP, gapped-alignment, and chaining stages.

Why package nerds care

LASTZ is package-nerd significant because it is a specialized scientific CLI whose real value is reproducibility: exact versions, tagged releases, and package-manager availability let genomics pipelines rerun large alignments with known behavior.

It also illustrates a common packaging problem in bioinformatics: preserving old command-line compatibility while fixing algorithmic bugs and adding formats needed by newer workflows.

Timeline

  • 2016-08-11: Official GitHub repository created.
  • 2017-04-12: Tag 1.04.00 appears in the public GitHub tag set.
  • 2022-01-11: Tag 1.04.52 appears in the public GitHub tag set.
  • 2026-05-20: GitHub repository metadata records activity on the official repository.

Related projects

  • LASTZ is directly related to BLASTZ, the Miller Lab alignment tools, and downstream genome-alignment formats and pipelines that consume LAV, AXT, MAF, SAM, CIGAR, or PAF output.

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 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
lastzcliglobal executable
lastz_Dcliglobal 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 version1.04.52
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamcurrent
latest detected1.04.52

https://github.com/lastz/lastz

  • infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:lastz
Version1.04.52
Package managerHomebrew
Package manager pagehttps://formulae.brew.sh/formula/lastz
Homepagehttps://lastz.github.io/lastz/
Repositoryhttps://github.com/lastz/lastz
Upstream docshttps://lastz.github.io/lastz
LicenseMIT
Source archivehttps://github.com/lastz/lastz/archive/refs/tags/1.04.52.tar.gz
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 Namelastz
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%

lastz 1.04.22-2

pairwise aligning DNA sequences

https://github.com/lastz/lastz

sudo apt install lastz
  • Section: science
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 1 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Lastz
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: lastz from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Debian apt95%

lastz-examples 1.04.22-2

pairwise aligning DNA sequences (examples and test scripts)

https://github.com/lastz/lastz

sudo apt install lastz-examples
  • Section: science
  • Architecture: all
  • Source Package: lastz
  • 1 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Lastz
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: lastz-examples from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Ubuntu apt95%

lastz 1.04.22-2

pairwise aligning DNA sequences

https://github.com/lastz/lastz

sudo apt install lastz
  • Section: universe/science
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 1 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Lastz
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: lastz from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
Ubuntu apt95%

lastz-examples 1.04.22-2

pairwise aligning DNA sequences (examples and test scripts)

https://github.com/lastz/lastz

sudo apt install lastz-examples
  • Section: universe/science
  • Architecture: all
  • Source Package: lastz
  • 1 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Lastz
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: lastz-examples from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

package graph

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

Same workflow

  • minimap2Shares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, dna, genomics, science.
  • mummerShares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, dna, genomics, science.
  • bbtoolsShares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, dna, genomics, science.
  • blastShares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, genomics, science, sequence-alignment.
  • breseqShares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, dna, genomics, science.
  • bwaShares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, dna, science, sequence-alignment.

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