install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install liblzf

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%

sudo apk add liblzf

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

Debian aptverified · 92%

sudo apt install liblzf-dev

Debian stable package indexes · liblzf-dev · source: deb.debian.org

Fedora dnfverified · 92%

sudo dnf install liblzf

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

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#liblzf

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

Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%

sudo pacman -S liblzf

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

overview

Package summary

Very small, very fast data compression library

Project links

Commands and aliases

lzf

history

Project history and usage

liblzf is Marc Lehmann's very small portable-C compression library built around the LZF algorithm. Its niche is fast, easy-to-embed compression rather than maximum compression ratio.

Project history

The project page describes LibLZF as consisting of two .c files and two .h files, designed to be dropped into other programs. The same page emphasizes speed, portability, and a BSD-type license as reasons to use it in applications.

The public header copyright range is 2000-2008 for Marc Alexander Lehmann, which supports liblzf's origin as an early-2000s C library. The NetBSD lzf(1) manual records that the lzf command first appeared with version 0.1 of Marc Lehmann's LZF library and was rewritten for version 2.0.

Adoption history

liblzf's adoption is mostly embedded and quiet. Redis source code includes lzf.h in its RDB persistence code as the LZF compression library, which made the algorithm familiar to people inspecting Redis dump files even when they never installed the standalone liblzf package.

How it is used

Developers embed the small C files directly or link the packaged library, while the lzf command provides a gzip-like utility interface. Build-time knobs such as HLOG, VERY_FAST, ULTRA_FAST, and CHECK_INPUT let embedders trade compression quality, speed, memory, and input validation.

Why package nerds care

liblzf matters to package nerds because it is a classic tiny-C-library package: old, compact, permissively licensed, easy to vendor, and still visible through larger systems that adopted its file-format behavior.

Timeline

2000: Public source headers begin their copyright range.
2008: Public source headers end the original copyright range at 2008.
2014: NetBSD 7.0 manual documented the lzf command as appearing in NetBSD 7.0.
2026: Homebrew batch metadata listed liblzf alongside Debian, Fedora, Nix, Arch, Ubuntu, and Alpine packages.

Related projects

Redis uses LZF compression code in RDB persistence.
The lzf-rs Rust project and Compress::LZF Perl module are examples of later language bindings or rewrites around the same small LZF format.

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 13 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

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`lzf`	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 generated2026-07-08

manager version3.6

manager updated

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://oldhome.schmorp.de/marc/liblzf.html

infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://oldhome.schmorp.de/marc/liblzf.htmlnone confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:liblzf
Version	3.6
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/liblzf
Homepage	https://oldhome.schmorp.de/marc/liblzf.html
Repository	https://cvs.schmorp.de/liblzf
Upstream docs	https://oldhome.schmorp.de/marc/liblzf.html
License	BSD-2-Clause AND (BSD-2-Clause OR GPL-2.0-or-later)
Source archive	https://dist.schmorp.de/liblzf/liblzf-3.6.tar.gz
Bottle	available (on arm64_big_sur, arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, big_sur, catalina, monterey, sonoma, ventura, 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	liblzf
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%

liblzf-dev 3.6-4+b3

Very small data compression library - development headers

http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/liblzf.html

sudo apt install liblzf-dev

Section: libdevel
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: liblzf
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Liblzf

Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: liblzf-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

Debian apt95%

liblzf1 3.6-4+b3

Very small data compression library

http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/liblzf.html

sudo apt install liblzf1

Section: libs
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: liblzf
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Liblzf

Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: liblzf1 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

Nix95%

liblzf

nix profile install nixpkgs#liblzf

normalized package name match
Matched by: Liblzf

nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/li/liblzf/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

Ubuntu apt95%

liblzf-dev 3.6-4

Very small data compression library - development headers

http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/liblzf.html

sudo apt install liblzf-dev

Section: universe/libdevel
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: liblzf
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Liblzf

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: liblzf-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

Ubuntu apt95%

liblzf1 3.6-4

Very small data compression library

http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/liblzf.html

sudo apt install liblzf1

Section: universe/libs
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: liblzf
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Liblzf

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: liblzf1 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

apk95%

liblzf 3.6-r1

A very small data compression library

http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/liblzf.html

sudo apk add liblzf

License: BSD-2-Clause
Architecture: x86_64
Source Package: liblzf
1 dependencies
1 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Liblzf

Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: liblzf from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz

apk95%

liblzf-dev 3.6-r1

A very small data compression library (development files)

http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/liblzf.html

sudo apk add liblzf-dev

License: BSD-2-Clause
Architecture: x86_64
Source Package: liblzf
1 dependencies
1 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Liblzf

Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: liblzf-dev from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz

dnf95%

liblzf 3.6-34.fc44

Small data compression library

http://oldhome.schmorp.de/marc/liblzf.html

sudo dnf install liblzf

License: LicenseRef-Callaway-BSD OR GPL-2.0-or-later
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: i686
Source Package: liblzf
2 dependencies
2 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Liblzf

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: liblzf from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst

dnf95%

liblzf-devel 3.6-34.fc44

Development files for liblzf

http://oldhome.schmorp.de/marc/liblzf.html

sudo dnf install liblzf-devel

License: LicenseRef-Callaway-BSD OR GPL-2.0-or-later
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: i686
Source Package: liblzf
3 dependencies
2 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Liblzf

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: liblzf-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst

pacman95%

liblzf 3.6-5

A very small data compression library

http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/liblzf.html

sudo pacman -S liblzf

License: BSD
Architecture: x86_64
1 dependencies
1 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Liblzf

Arch Linux sync databases · geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com · Arch Linux sync databases: liblzf from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz

package graph

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

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.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/liblzf.yml

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

Install liblzf with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, Nix, pacman

Additional install commands

macOS

Linux

Package summary

Project links

Commands and aliases

Project history and usage

Project history

Adoption history

How it is used

Why package nerds care

Timeline

Related projects

Sources

Risk level: green

Risk classifier

Why

Signals

Install behavior

Recommended review

Installed executables

Version and freshness

Package metadata

Source database details

Other package-manager records

Internal package links

Topical hubs

Same workflow

Agent security guides

Generated from repository data

Combined YAML source

Used sources