Install lsof with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, Nix, pacman, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• lsof

Project history

The official lsof documentation states that Vic Abell originally developed and maintained lsof beginning in 1994. The project later moved under the lsof-org team on GitHub, which now publishes the current releases and Read the Docs documentation.

lsof's importance comes from the Unix everything-is-a-file model. The official manpage describes support across many Unix dialects, including Linux, Darwin/macOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and OpenIndiana, and explains that open files include regular files, directories, character and block devices, executing text references, libraries, streams, internet sockets, NFS files, and Unix-domain sockets.

Adoption history

lsof is one of the canonical system-administration packages. The official docs say it is provided by package managers, and the supplied package facts list availability through Homebrew, Alpine, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora/DNF, Arch, Nix, and openSUSE/Zypper.

The GitHub repository was created for the maintained upstream in 2018 and continues to receive updates. The project documentation lists active support and CI coverage across major Unix-like systems, which helps downstream package maintainers keep it viable despite kernel and platform-specific internals.

How it is used

Administrators and developers use lsof to answer practical questions: which process has a file open, why a filesystem cannot be unmounted, where deleted-but-open files are consuming disk space, which TCP or UDP sockets a process owns, and what a named command or user has open.

The official manpage is unusually rich because lsof has to expose platform-specific kernel data in a portable CLI. It includes selectors for paths, PIDs, users, commands, network addresses, file descriptors, zones, repeat mode, parseable output via `-F`, and device-cache behavior.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, lsof is foundational plumbing. It is a tiny command with outsized diagnostic value, but it is hard to maintain because it tracks kernel data structures and Unix dialect differences. That combination explains why it is routinely installed by default or close to default in sysadmin toolsets, containers, rescue environments, and debugging checklists.

Timeline

• 1994: Vic Abell begins developing and maintaining lsof.
• 2018: lsof-org/lsof GitHub repository is created for current upstream maintenance.
• 2020s: lsof-org maintains Read the Docs documentation and GitHub releases.
• 2026: Official docs list active support for Linux, FreeBSD, Darwin/macOS, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris/OpenIndiana, and CI testing across common distributions.

Related projects

• Related diagnostics include fuser, ps, ss, netstat, procfs tools, and platform-specific filesystem or socket inspection commands. lsof remains distinctive because it unifies process, file descriptor, filesystem, and network views in one command.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/lsof-org/lsof
• https://github.com/lsof-org/lsof
• https://lsof.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
• https://lsof.readthedocs.io/en/latest/manpage/
• source_facts.package-manager