brew

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

Asynchronous event library. Version 2.1.13 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-01.

Install command Security notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install libevent

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%

sudo port install libevent

MacPorts ports tree · devel/libevent/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%

sudo apk add libevent

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

Debian aptverified · 92%

sudo apt install libevent-2.1-7t64

Debian stable package indexes · libevent-2.1-7t64 · source: deb.debian.org

Fedora dnfverified · 92%

sudo dnf install libevent

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

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#libevent

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

Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%

sudo pacman -S libevent

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

openSUSE zypperverified · 92%

sudo zypper install libevent-2_1-7

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · libevent-2_1-7 · source: download.opensuse.org

overview

Package summary

Asynchronous event library

Project links

Commands and aliases

event_rpcgen.py

history

Project history and usage

libevent is a portable C event-notification library for scalable network servers and event-driven programs.

Project history

The libevent site describes the library as a replacement for hand-written event loops in network servers: programs register callbacks for file-descriptor readiness, timers, signals, and higher-level buffered I/O rather than hard-coding select or poll loops. The site credits maintenance to Nick Mathewson, Azat Khuzhin, and Niels Provos.

The project grew around the C10K-era problem of serving many simultaneous connections portably across backends such as select, poll, epoll, kqueue, /dev/poll, Solaris event ports, and Windows APIs. Over time it added buffered network I/O, DNS, HTTP, RPC, SSL-capable bufferevents, thread hooks, and extensive portability code.

Adoption history

The official site lists widely used downstreams including Chromium, memcached, Transmission, NTP's SNTP code, tmux, Tor, Prosody, PgBouncer, and coturn. That breadth made libevent one of the standard C event-loop dependencies in Unix package collections.

How it is used

Typical applications create an event_base, register events or bufferevents, and run event_base_dispatch. The official documentation covers setup, event bases, timers, buffered I/O, asynchronous DNS, embedded HTTP servers, and RPC support.

Why package nerds care

libevent is package-nerd-famous because it abstracts the messy portability matrix behind scalable C networking. It is old enough to show up in classic daemons and new enough to have ABI/API reports, split libraries, CMake and autotools history, and long-lived 1.4, 2.0, and 2.1 release lines.

Timeline

2009: Niels Provos announced libevent 1.4.12-stable and libevent 2.0.2-alpha on July 29, 2009.
2010: The libevent site lists libevent-1.4.14b-stable released June 7, 2010.
2012: The libevent site lists the first 2.1.x alpha release on April 3, 2012 and libevent-2.0.21-stable released November 18, 2012.
2014: The libevent site lists libevent-2.0.22-stable released January 5, 2014.
2017: The libevent site lists libevent-2.1.8-stable released January 22, 2017.
2020: The libevent site lists libevent-2.1.12-stable released July 5, 2020.
2023: The libevent site lists libevent-2.2.1-alpha-dev released May 21, 2023.

Related projects

Related event-loop and networking projects include libev, libuv, Boost.Asio, and downstream users such as Tor, memcached, tmux, Transmission, Chromium, PgBouncer, and coturn.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: green

library-like package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

library-like package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:library-like

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
Installs with 1 runtime dependencies.
Build metadata lists 4 build 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
`event_rpcgen.py`	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 generated2026-07-07

manager version2.1.13

manager updated2026-07-01

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://github.com/libevent/libevent

infoNo cached GitHub release or tag data was available.https://github.com/libevent/libeventnone confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:libevent
Version	2.1.13
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/libevent
Homepage	https://libevent.org/
Repository	https://github.com/libevent/libevent
Upstream docs	https://libevent.org/
License	BSD-3-Clause
Source archive	https://github.com/libevent/libevent/archive/refs/tags/release-2.1.13-stable.tar.gz
Last updated	2026-07-01T17:46:43Z
Pulse	updated
Dependencies	openssl@3
Build dependencies	autoconf, automake, libtool, pkgconf
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	libevent
Version Scheme	0
Revision	0
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	no
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
URL Keys	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%

libevent-2.1-7t64 2.1.12-stable-10+b1

Asynchronous event notification library