install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install mbw

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Debian aptverified · 92%

sudo apt install mbw

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

overview

Package summary

Memory Bandwidth Benchmark

Project links

Commands and aliases

mbw

history

Project history and usage

MBW is a tiny command-line memory bandwidth benchmark. It measures the speed of memory copy and memory set operations, giving users a quick local sanity check for RAM throughput without a large benchmark suite.

Project history

The official repository describes MBW as a memory bandwidth benchmark and ships a manpage alongside the small C program. Its upstream history is sparse, with a compact tag series and a long-lived codebase whose copyright notices date back to the mid-2000s.

Adoption history

The input metadata lists Homebrew, Debian, and Ubuntu packages. That limited but real adoption fits the tool's scope: MBW is not a broad system profiler, but it is small enough and useful enough to keep available in package indexes.

How it is used

Users run mbw with an array size to compare memcpy, dumb copy, and memset style throughput. It is most useful as a quick baseline after hardware changes, virtualization changes, or low-level performance investigations.

Why package nerds care

MBW matters to package nerds as the kind of single-purpose benchmark that survives because it has almost no operational weight. It is easy to build, easy to audit, and easy to invoke when a larger benchmark suite would be overkill.

Timeline

2006: Early MBW copyright period begins in the upstream sources.
2010s: The project accumulated small tagged releases in the public GitHub repository.
2022: The v2.0 tag marked continued maintenance of the small benchmark.

Related projects

Related benchmarking tools include lmbench, STREAM, sysbench, stress-ng, and Unix performance utilities used for quick hardware and virtual-machine checks.

Sources

https://github.com/raas/mbw
https://github.com/raas/mbw/blob/master/mbw.1
https://github.com/raas/mbw/tags
source_facts.package-manager

security posture

Risk level: green

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:no-higher-risk-signals

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 12 platform targets.
Build metadata lists 1 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
`mbw`	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 version2.0

manager updated

local dataok

upstreamcurrent

latest detectedv2.0

https://github.com/raas/mbw

infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:mbw
Version	2.0
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/mbw
Homepage	https://github.com/raas/mbw/
Repository	https://github.com/raas/mbw
Upstream docs	https://github.com/raas/mbw#readme
License	GPL-3.0-or-later
Source archive	https://github.com/raas/mbw/archive/refs/tags/v2.0.tar.gz
Build dependencies	cmake
Bottle	available (on arm64_big_sur, arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, big_sur, 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	mbw
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%

mbw 1.2.2-1.2

memory bandwidth benchmark program

http://ahorvath.web.cern.ch/ahorvath/mbw/

sudo apt install mbw

Section: utils
Architecture: amd64
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Mbw

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

Ubuntu apt95%

mbw 1.2.2-1.2

memory bandwidth benchmark program

http://ahorvath.web.cern.ch/ahorvath/mbw/

sudo apt install mbw

Section: universe/utils
Architecture: amd64
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Mbw

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: mbw from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.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/mbw.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 mbw with Homebrew, apt