# Install memcached with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, zypper High performance, distributed memory object caching system. Version 1.6.44 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-07. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:memcached ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install memcached ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install memcached ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: sysutils/memcached/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add memcached ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: memcached from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install memcached ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: memcached from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install memcached ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: memcached 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#memcached ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/me/memcached/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S memcached ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: memcached from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install memcached ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: memcached from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ### Windows - Scoop (92%): ```sh scoop install main/memcached ``` Evidence: Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/memcached.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:memcached - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 1.6.44 - **Source summary:** High performance, distributed memory object caching system - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** BSD-3-Clause - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-07-07T08:09:00Z - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T18:08:21+00:00 ## Executables - memcached (cli) - memcached (alias) ## Dependencies - libevent - openssl@3 ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Service: declared - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 1.6.44 - Package-manager updated: 2026-07-07 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://memcached.org/ - info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories. ## Project history and usage Memcached is a high-performance distributed in-memory key-value cache for small arbitrary data, originally built to reduce database load for dynamic web applications. Its deliberately simple server design leaves distribution and key placement to clients. ### Project history The official about page traces Memcached to Brad Fitzpatrick at LiveJournal in 2003. The project grew from a web scaling tool into a long-lived C daemon, with libevent-based networking and a protocol simple enough to be implemented by clients in many languages. The project documentation frames the architecture as a virtual pool of memory: clients hash keys to servers, servers store opaque values, and servers do not coordinate with each other. This simplicity made Memcached easy to deploy horizontally and kept the daemon focused on fast memory storage, eviction, and protocol handling. The current upstream development repository is the central GitHub repository under the memcached organization. The development wiki describes the codebase as started in 2003, stable, long-term, and performance-sensitive, with central-branch quality gates, buildbots, regression tests, and careful performance testing. ### Adoption history Memcached became a standard package across Unix-like systems and language ecosystems because its protocol and operating model are small. The official site notes APIs for most popular languages, the development wiki says portability matters because Memcached ships as a standard package on many operating systems, and the batch input lists packages across Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, Nix, MacPorts, Scoop, and zypper. The official homepage also names Netflix as a supporter and links users to documentation, mailing lists, GitHub issues, and release notes, showing a mature infrastructure around a widely deployed daemon rather than a single-library project. ### How it is used Applications store the results of database calls, API calls, or page rendering under application-defined keys and retrieve those values before doing expensive work again. The official examples show direct protocol interaction over telnet on port 11211 with commands such as `get` and `stats`. Operationally, administrators tune memory size, server count, and client hashing behavior rather than treating Memcached as a replicated database. The docs emphasize that servers are independent, data can expire or be evicted, and forgetting is a feature of the cache model. ### Why package nerds care Memcached is a package-manager classic: tiny enough to install everywhere, important enough to appear in nearly every server distribution, and old enough that downstreams care about init systems, portability, protocol compatibility, and security fixes. It is also a reference point for cache clients, monitoring tools, and experiments such as queues or persistent stores that reuse the memcached protocol. ### Timeline - 2003: Brad Fitzpatrick originally develops Memcached for LiveJournal. - 2019: Development wiki describes the 2003 codebase as a stable long-term project with many users. - 2024: Documentation site publishes the modern Memcached overview and design-philosophy pages. - 2026-05-18: Official homepage lists v1.6.42 as the latest stable release. ### Related projects - Related projects include memcache-top for terminal stats monitoring, MemcacheQ for a queue service over the memcache protocol, language-specific Memcached clients, libevent as a core dependency, and mc-crusher for performance testing. ### Sources - - - - - - source_facts.package-manager-url ## Security Notes formula declares a Homebrew service. - **Geiger risk:** orange / medium - formula declares a Homebrew service ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** memcached - **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 - memcached - 1.6.38-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: memcached from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | High-performance in-memory object caching system | https://memcached.org/ - Nix - memcached: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/me/memcached/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - memcached - 1.6.24-1build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: memcached from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | High-performance in-memory object caching system | https://memcached.org/ - apk - memcached - 1.6.42-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: memcached from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Distributed memory object caching system | https://memcached.org/ - apk - memcached-dev - 1.6.42-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: memcached-dev from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Distributed memory object caching system (development files) | https://memcached.org/ - apk - memcached-doc - 1.6.42-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: memcached-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Distributed memory object caching system (documentation) | https://memcached.org/ - apk - memcached-openrc - 1.6.42-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: memcached-openrc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Distributed memory object caching system (OpenRC init scripts) | https://memcached.org/ - dnf - memcached - 1.6.41-1.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: memcached from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | High Performance, Distributed Memory Object Cache | https://www.memcached.org/ - dnf - memcached-devel - 1.6.41-1.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: memcached-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Files needed for development using memcached protocol | https://www.memcached.org/ - dnf - memcached-selinux - 1.6.41-1.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: memcached-selinux from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Selinux policy module | https://www.memcached.org/ - pacman - memcached - 1.6.42-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: memcached from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Distributed memory object caching system | https://memcached.org/ - zypper - memcached - 1.6.42-2.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: memcached from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | A high-performance, distributed memory object caching system | https://memcached.org/ - zypper - memcached-devel - 1.6.42-2.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: memcached-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Files needed for development using memcached protocol | https://memcached.org/ - MacPorts - memcached: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: sysutils/memcached/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Scoop - main/memcached: normalized package name match | Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/memcached.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Related links - [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. - [Text processing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/text-processing-tools/) - Matched text, document, or structured-data processing metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [libevent](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libevent/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [openssl@3](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/openssl-3/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [valkey](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/valkey/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cache, cli, data, key-value-store, server. - [keydb](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/keydb/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, key-value-store, server. - [pelikan](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pelikan/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cache, cli, data, server. - [cdb](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cdb/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, key-value-store. - [dynomite](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/dynomite/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, key-value-store. - [kyoto-cabinet](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/kyoto-cabinet/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, key-value-store. - [kyoto-tycoon](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/kyoto-tycoon/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cache, cli, data, key-value-store, server. - [leveldb](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/leveldb/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, key-value-store. - [redis](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/redis/) - Local metadata places this package in an adjacent workflow. Shared terms: cache, cli, data, key, key-value-store. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/memcached.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/memcached.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - 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