install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install makeself

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%

sudo port install makeself

MacPorts ports tree · archivers/makeself/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%

sudo apk add makeself

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

Debian aptverified · 92%

sudo apt install makeself

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

Fedora dnfverified · 92%

sudo dnf install makeself

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

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#makeself

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

openSUSE zypperverified · 92%

sudo zypper install makeself

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · makeself · source: download.opensuse.org

overview

Package summary

Generates a self-extracting compressed tar archive

Project links

Commands and aliases

makeself

history

Project history and usage

makeself is a portable shell-script tool that creates self-extracting compressed tar archives for Unix-like systems. The generated file looks like a shell script, often using a `.run` or `.sh` suffix, and embeds both an archive and the startup command that should run after extraction.

Project history

The official README says makeself was written by Stéphane Peter and is maintained in portable Bourne-shell style so that both the generator and generated archives can run across Unix variants. Its design is deliberately simple: prepend a shell stub to a tar archive, extract into a temporary directory or chosen target, run a script, and clean up.

The project is historically tied to Loki Software's Linux game installers. The official site points readers to Loki Setup, notes that Stéphane Peter co-authored it, and recommends the `.run` suffix introduced by some Loki-era makeself archives. That gave makeself a visible role in the Linux commercial game and driver distribution era before distribution-native packages covered every case.

Adoption history

makeself stayed useful because it requires little from the target system beyond a shell, tar, and a supported compressor. The README lists examples such as Id Software game installers and patches, Loki game patches, NVIDIA Linux drivers, Google Earth for Linux, VirtualBox Linux installers, and the makeself distribution itself.

The GitHub repository shows continued maintenance, releases, and a broad contributor history. Newer releases added compression options, archive inspection flags, checksums, CI-friendly usage, and portability fixes while preserving the old package-maintainer promise: ship one executable-ish installer file without a native package repository.

How it is used

A common invocation is `makeself.sh archive_dir file_name label startup_script [script_args]`. Generated archives support options such as `--list`, `--check`, `--target`, `--noexec`, `--keep`, and `--tar`, which makes them inspectable and scriptable in package and release automation.

Why package nerds care

Package nerds care about makeself because it occupies the gray zone between tarballs and native packages. It is not a dependency solver or package manager, but it is a common vendor distribution format that package maintainers often need to unpack, audit, repack, or replace with distro-native recipes.

Timeline

1990s-2000s: Loki-style `.run` archives popularize self-extracting shell installers for Linux games and applications.
2010: The official GitHub repository is created.
2025: GitHub lists makeself v2.7.1 as a release.
2026: The official repository remains maintained with thousands of stars and hundreds of forks.

Related projects

Related tools and formats include Loki Setup, shell archives, tarballs, AppImage, InstallAnywhere-style binary installers, and native package formats such as deb, rpm, and pacman packages.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: blue

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

Risk classifier

blue risk · medium confidence · tool

Why

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal

Signals

text:archive,compress

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 1 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
`makeself`	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 version2.7.1

manager updated

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://github.com/megastep/makeself

infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
infoNo cached GitHub release or tag data was available.https://github.com/megastep/makeselfnone confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:makeself
Version	2.7.1
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/makeself
Homepage	https://makeself.io/
Repository	https://github.com/megastep/makeself
Upstream docs	https://github.com/megastep/makeself#readme
License	GPL-2.0-or-later
Source archive	https://github.com/megastep/makeself/archive/refs/tags/release-2.7.1.tar.gz
Bottle	available (on all)
Homebrew post-install	not defined
Service	none declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source Database	Homebrew formula API
Tap	homebrew/core
Full Name	makeself
Version Scheme	0
Revision	0
Head Version	HEAD
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	no
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
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%

makeself 2.5.0-1

utility to generate self-extractable archives

http://www.megastep.org/makeself/

sudo apt install makeself

Section: utils
Architecture: all
1 optional deps
normalized package name match
Matched by: Makeself

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

Nix95%

makeself

nix profile install nixpkgs#makeself

normalized package name match
Matched by: Makeself

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

Ubuntu apt95%

makeself 2.5.0-1

utility to generate self-extractable archives

http://www.megastep.org/makeself/

sudo apt install makeself

Section: universe/utils
Architecture: all
1 optional deps
normalized package name match
Matched by: Makeself

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

apk95%

makeself 2.5.0-r0

Generate a self-extractable compressed tar archive from a directory

https://makeself.io/

sudo apk add makeself

License: GPL-2.0-or-later
Architecture: x86_64
Source Package: makeself
1 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Makeself

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

dnf95%

makeself 2.7.1-1.fc45

Make self-extractable archives on Unix

http://makeself.io/

sudo dnf install makeself

License: GPL-2.0-or-later
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: noarch
Source Package: makeself
2 dependencies
1 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Makeself

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

zypper95%

makeself 2.7.1-1.2

Make self-extractable archives on Unix

https://makeself.io/

sudo zypper install makeself

License: GPL-2.0-or-later
Category: Productivity/Archiving/Compression
Architecture: noarch
Source Package: makeself
1 dependencies
1 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Makeself

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: makeself from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst

MacPorts95%

makeself

sudo port install makeself

normalized package name match
Matched by: Makeself

MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: archivers/makeself/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

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/makeself.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 makeself with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper