# Install lxc with Homebrew, apk, chocolatey, apt, dnf, Nix, pacman, scoop, zypper CLI client for interacting with LXD. Version 6.9 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-23. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:lxc ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install lxc ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add lxc ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: lxc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install liblxc-common ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: liblxc-common from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install lxc ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: lxc from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#lxc ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/lx/lxc/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S lxc ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: lxc from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install liblxc-devel ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: liblxc-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ### Windows - Chocolatey (92%): ```sh choco install lxc ``` Evidence: Chocolatey community package catalog: lxc from http://community.chocolatey.org/api/v2/Packages?$filter=IsLatestVersion&$select=Id&$top=1000&$skiptoken='7.158','newfiletime' - Scoop (92%): ```sh scoop install main/lxc ``` Evidence: Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/lxc.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:lxc - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 6.9 - **Source summary:** CLI client for interacting with LXD - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** AGPL-3.0-only - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-06-23T10:38:02Z - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - lxc (cli) - lxc (alias) ## Build dependencies - go ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 6.9 - Package-manager updated: 2026-06-23 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/canonical/lxd - info: No cached GitHub release or tag data was available. ## Project history and usage The Homebrew `lxc` formula packages the LXD command-line client named `lxc`, not the older low-level LXC tool suite. LXD is Canonical's system container and virtual-machine manager, and `lxc` is its default CLI for managing instances, remotes, images, networks, projects, storage, and server settings. ### Project history The LXD repository was created in November 2014, and the official documentation carries LXD contributor copyright years from 2014 through 2026. Canonical's documentation describes LXD as a modern, secure system container and virtual machine manager with a REST API and support for workloads from a single development machine to clustered production infrastructure. The official `lxd and lxc` explanation distinguishes LXD from LXC: LXC is the low-level userspace interface for Linux kernel containment features, while LXD is a more user-friendly system built on top of LXC with network-controllable management features. ### Adoption history LXD adoption grew from Linux container users who wanted machine-like system containers with images, profiles, networking, storage pools, remotes, and clustering. The official README documents installation of the daemon on Linux and the `lxc` client on Linux, Windows, and macOS, including Homebrew for macOS. By July 2026, the official GitHub repository had roughly 4,800 stars and 1,000 forks, and Canonical maintained both feature releases and long-term-support release branches such as 4.0, 5.0, and 5.21. ### How it is used The `lxc` command is the everyday LXD client. Official man pages list subcommands for launching, listing, stopping, copying, moving, snapshotting, exporting, importing, and configuring instances, plus image, profile, project, network, storage, cluster, and remote management. The client stores remotes and aliases in `config.yml` under `$LXD_CONF` or `~/.config/lxc`. For remote authentication it can use TLS client certificate and key files, optional client CA material, OIDC token JSON files, and per-remote cookie jars. ### Why package nerds care This package is significant because its name is historically confusing: package users may expect LXC, but the formula installs the LXD client named `lxc`. For package managers, it is a cross-platform client for a Linux-only daemon and has important configuration and credential files outside the package prefix. ### Timeline - 2014: Public `canonical/lxd` repository created. - 2021: LXD 4.0 LTS line still maintained through later point releases. - 2024: LXD 5.21 LTS line active. - 2026: LXD 6.9 feature release and LTS point releases published. ### Related projects - LXC provides the lower-level Linux container interface used underneath LXD. - dqlite is used by LXD for clustered state. - pylxd and the Go client package are official SDKs documented by the LXD README. - MicroCloud, Terraform provider for LXD, Packer LXD builder, and Ansible integrations are listed as management tools. ### Sources - - - - - - - - - - ## Security Notes broad file, network, media, or database tool signal. - **Geiger risk:** blue / medium - broad file, network, media, or database tool signal ## Configuration and credential file locations These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval. ## Configuration files - Unix: $LXD_CONF/config.yml, ~/.config/lxc/config.yml ## Credential files - Unix: $LXD_CONF/client.crt, $LXD_CONF/client.key, $LXD_CONF/oidctokens/.json, $LXD_CONF/jars/, ~/.config/lxc/client.crt, ~/.config/lxc/client.key, ~/.config/lxc/oidctokens/.json, ~/.config/lxc/jars/ ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** lxc - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - liblxc-common - 1:6.0.4-4+deb13u3+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: liblxc-common from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Linux Containers userspace tools (library) | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Debian apt - liblxc1t64 - 1:6.0.4-4+deb13u3+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: liblxc1t64 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Linux Containers userspace tools (library) | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Debian apt - libpam-cgfs - 1:6.0.4-4+deb13u3+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libpam-cgfs from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | PAM module for managing cgroups for LXC | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Debian apt - lxc - 1:6.0.4-4+deb13u3+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: lxc from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Linux Containers userspace tools | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Debian apt - lxc-dev - 1:6.0.4-4+deb13u3+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: lxc-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Linux Containers userspace tools (development) | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Debian apt - lxc-tests - 1:6.0.4-4+deb13u3+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: lxc-tests from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Linux Containers userspace tools (test binaries) | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Nix - lxc: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/lx/lxc/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - liblxc-common - 1:5.0.3-2ubuntu7: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: liblxc-common from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Linux Containers userspace tools (library) | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Ubuntu apt - liblxc-dev - 1:5.0.3-2ubuntu7: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: liblxc-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Transitional package - liblxc-dev -> lxc-dev | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Ubuntu apt - liblxc1t64 - 1:5.0.3-2ubuntu7: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: liblxc1t64 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Linux Containers userspace tools (library) | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Ubuntu apt - libpam-cgfs - 1:5.0.3-2ubuntu7: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libpam-cgfs from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | PAM module for managing cgroups for LXC | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Ubuntu apt - lxc - 1:5.0.3-2ubuntu7: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: lxc from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Linux Containers userspace tools | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Ubuntu apt - lxc-dev - 1:5.0.3-2ubuntu7: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: lxc-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Linux Containers userspace tools (development) | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Ubuntu apt - lxc-tests - 1:5.0.3-2ubuntu7: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: lxc-tests from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Linux Containers userspace tools (test binaries) | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Ubuntu apt - lxc-utils - 1:5.0.3-2ubuntu7: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: lxc-utils from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Transitional package - lxc-utils -> lxc | https://linuxcontainers.org/ - Ubuntu apt - lxc1 - 1:5.0.3-2ubuntu7: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: lxc1 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Transitional package - lxc1 -> lxc | https://linuxcontainers.org/ ## Related links - [Cloud CLI packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/cloud-clis/) - Belongs to a cloud or infrastructure command family. - [Secret-risk packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/secret-risk-packages/) - Has protected-tool coverage, approval-gate, or non-low Geiger security signals. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [go](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/go/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [rockcraft](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/rockcraft/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [snapcraft](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/snapcraft/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [incus](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/incus/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, cloud-infrastructure, containers, linux, virtual-machines. - [colima](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/colima/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, cloud-infrastructure, containers, linux. - [rootlesskit](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/rootlesskit/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, cloud-infrastructure, containers, linux. - [amazon-ecs-cli](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/amazon-ecs-cli/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, cloud-infrastructure, containers. - [ansible-builder](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ansible-builder/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, cloud-infrastructure, containers. - [container](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/container/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, cloud-infrastructure, containers. - [container-canary](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/container-canary/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, cloud-infrastructure, containers. - [container-compose](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/container-compose/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, cloud-infrastructure, containers. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/lxc.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/lxc.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated configuration and credential file locations - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph