Automic VaultAutomic Vault

brew

Install mgba with Homebrew, apk, apt, Nix, winget

Game Boy Advance emulator. Version 0.10.5 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-18.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install mgba

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add libmgba

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

Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install libmgba-dev

Debian stable package indexes · libmgba-dev · source: deb.debian.org

Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#mgba

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

Windows

Windows Package Managerverified · 92%
winget install --id JeffreyPfau.mGBA -e

Windows Package Manager source index · JeffreyPfau.mGBA · source: cdn.winget.microsoft.com

overview

Package summary

Game Boy Advance emulator

Commands and aliases

  • mGBA

history

Project history and usage

mGBA is an open-source Game Boy Advance emulator created by Vicki Pfau, also known as endrift. The official FAQ says the project started in April 2013 with the goal of running on lower-end hardware without giving up accuracy or portability, and the ten-year retrospective ties that history to the first commit in the mGBA repository. The project site identifies it as copyright 2013-2026 Vicki Pfau.

Project history

Technically, mGBA set out to be faster and more accurate than many older GBA emulators while adding features they lacked. Its README and FAQ describe support not only for Game Boy Advance games but also Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles, with an emphasis on accuracy, portability, and practical extras. That combination made it useful both for players and for development/debugging workflows around Nintendo handheld software.

How it is used

Its adoption reaches beyond package managers. The project is distributed through its own site and GitHub, packaged by Homebrew and Linux distributions, and published for Windows through winget. It also appears inside other retro-gaming products and workflows: Wired's review of the Epilogue GB Operator notes that Epilogue Playback defaults to the mGBA emulator core while allowing users to select other cores. In package-manager terms, Homebrew's `mgba` formula gives macOS and Linux users a maintained route to the desktop emulator, while distro packages such as `libmgba-dev` expose the emulator library for software that embeds or integrates mGBA.

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 6 platform targets.
  • Installs with 8 runtime dependencies.
  • Build metadata lists 3 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

CommandKindExposureNote
mGBAcliglobal 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 version0.10.5
manager updated2026-06-18
local dataok
upstreamcurrent
latest detected0.10.5

https://github.com/mgba-emu/mgba

  • okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:mgba
Version0.10.5
Package managerHomebrew
Package manager pagehttps://formulae.brew.sh/formula/mgba
Homepagehttps://mgba.io/
Repositoryhttps://github.com/mgba-emu/mgba
Upstream docshttps://github.com/mgba-emu/mgba#readme
LicenseMPL-2.0
Source archivehttps://github.com/mgba-emu/mgba/archive/refs/tags/0.10.5.tar.gz
Last updated2026-06-18T02:28:59-04:00
Pulseupdated
Dependenciesffmpeg, libepoxy, libpng, libzip, lua, qt@5, sdl2-compat, sqlite
Build dependenciescmake, libelf, pkgconf
Uses from macOSlibedit
Bottleavailable (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-installnot defined
Servicenone declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source DatabaseHomebrew formula API
Taphomebrew/core
Full Namemgba
Version Scheme0
Revision2
Head VersionHEAD
Bottle Stable Root URLhttps://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecatedyes
Disabledno
Keg Onlyno
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%

libmgba-dev 0.10.5+dfsg-1

Game Boy Advance emulator (development files)

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install libmgba-dev
  • Section: libdevel
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 1 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: libmgba-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Debian apt95%

libmgba0.10t64 0.10.5+dfsg-1

Game Boy Advance emulator (common library for mGBA)

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install libmgba0.10t64
  • Section: libs
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 16 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: libmgba0.10t64 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Debian apt95%

libretro-mgba 0.10.5+dfsg-1

Libretro wrapper for mGBA

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install libretro-mgba
  • Section: games
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 5 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: libretro-mgba from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Debian apt95%

mgba-common 0.10.5+dfsg-1

Game Boy Advance emulator (common files for mGBA)

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install mgba-common
  • Section: games
  • Architecture: all
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 1 optional deps
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: mgba-common from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Debian apt95%

mgba-qt 0.10.5+dfsg-1

Game Boy Advance emulator (Qt frontend for mGBA)

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install mgba-qt
  • Section: games
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 15 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: mgba-qt from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Debian apt95%

mgba-sdl 0.10.5+dfsg-1

Game Boy Advance emulator (SDL frontend for mGBA)

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install mgba-sdl
  • Section: games
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 4 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: mgba-sdl from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Nix95%

mgba

nix profile install nixpkgs#mgba
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/mg/mgba/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
Ubuntu apt95%

libmgba-dev 0.10.2+dfsg-1.1build3

Game Boy Advance emulator (development files)

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install libmgba-dev
  • Section: universe/libdevel
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 1 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libmgba-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
Ubuntu apt95%

libmgba0.10t64 0.10.2+dfsg-1.1build3

Game Boy Advance emulator (common library for mGBA)

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install libmgba0.10t64
  • Section: universe/libs
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 16 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libmgba0.10t64 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
Ubuntu apt95%

libretro-mgba 0.10.2+dfsg-1.1build3

Libretro wrapper for mGBA

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install libretro-mgba
  • Section: universe/games
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 5 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libretro-mgba from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
Ubuntu apt95%

mgba-common 0.10.2+dfsg-1.1build3

Game Boy Advance emulator (common files for mGBA)

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install mgba-common
  • Section: universe/games
  • Architecture: all
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 1 optional deps
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: mgba-common from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
Ubuntu apt95%

mgba-qt 0.10.2+dfsg-1.1build3

Game Boy Advance emulator (Qt frontend for mGBA)

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install mgba-qt
  • Section: universe/games
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 15 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: mgba-qt from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
Ubuntu apt95%

mgba-sdl 0.10.2+dfsg-1.1build3

Game Boy Advance emulator (SDL frontend for mGBA)

https://mgba.io/

sudo apt install mgba-sdl
  • Section: universe/games
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 4 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: mgba-sdl from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
apk95%

libmgba 0.10.5-r4

Shared library of mGBA

https://mgba.io

sudo apk add libmgba
  • License: MPL-2.0
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 1 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libmgba from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
apk95%

libmgba-dev 0.10.5-r4

Game Boy Advance Emulator (development files)

https://mgba.io

sudo apk add libmgba-dev
  • License: MPL-2.0
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libmgba-dev from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
apk95%

mgba 0.10.5-r4

Game Boy Advance Emulator

https://mgba.io

sudo apk add mgba
  • License: MPL-2.0
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: mgba
  • 1 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Mgba
Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: mgba from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

Related tools

  • ffmpegRuntime dependency declared by Homebrew.
  • libpngRuntime dependency declared by Homebrew.
  • libzipRuntime dependency declared by Homebrew.
  • luaRuntime dependency declared by Homebrew.
  • qt@5Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew.
  • sdl2-compatRuntime dependency declared by Homebrew.
  • sqliteRuntime dependency declared by Homebrew.
  • cmakeBuild dependency declared by Homebrew.

Same workflow

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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.

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