Install tinyproxy with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• tinyproxy

Project history

The project is written in C and distributed under GPL-2.0-or-later. Its public GitHub repository was created in December 2015, while the official site and README describe the long-standing design goals: small footprint, straightforward source code, KISS-style modifiability, and a minimal POSIX build and runtime environment.

Tinyproxy's features expanded beyond a simple forwarding proxy into a configurable daemon with HTTP CONNECT support, transparent proxying, reverse proxying, access control, header filtering/anonymizing, upstream proxy rules, remote statistics, BasicAuth, and optional build-time features. The 1.10.0 GitHub release notes call that version a new stable release and list major changes such as BasicAuth, SOCKS upstream support, reverse proxy behavior, shipped manpages, and build simplification.

Adoption history

The official download section documents installation through EPEL, Fedora, Debian-derived distributions, openSUSE, Arch, BSD package tools, and MacPorts, while warning that many distributions may ship outdated versions. The batch input records packages across Alpine, Homebrew, Debian, Fedora, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, Ubuntu, and openSUSE, showing unusually broad OS-package coverage for a small proxy daemon.

How it is used

A typical Tinyproxy deployment uses /etc/tinyproxy/tinyproxy.conf or a file passed with -c, then runs the daemon as a foreground test process or a service. The official quickstart shows a minimal localhost proxy on port 8888 and a curl test using the http_proxy environment variable; the configuration manual covers listening, binding, logging, PID files, access rules, upstream proxies, filters, BasicAuth, reverse paths, and transparent operation.

Why package nerds care

Tinyproxy is the most established package in this batch. Package maintainers care about it because it is small, POSIX-oriented, daemonized, security-sensitive, widely packaged, and useful in constrained systems, routers, local development networks, CI sandboxes, and simple reverse/forward proxy setups where Squid or larger stacks would be excessive.

Its package history also illustrates a classic distro-maintenance problem: the official site explicitly notes that packaged versions may lag and asks users to contact maintainers when OS packages are outdated. That makes Tinyproxy a recognizable example of a small infrastructure daemon whose upstream release cadence and downstream package freshness both matter.

Timeline

• 2015: Public GitHub repository created.
• 1.10.0: GitHub release notes described a new stable version with BasicAuth, SOCKS upstream support, reverse-proxy changes, shipped manpages, and build simplification.
• 1.11.x: GitHub releases continued with bug-fix and security-oriented maintenance.
• 2026: Official and input package data showed broad packaging across Linux, BSD-oriented, macOS, and Homebrew-style channels.

Related projects

• Tinyproxy is commonly compared by role with larger HTTP proxy daemons such as Squid, but its official materials emphasize small POSIX deployments, embedded systems, transparent proxying, reverse proxying, and custom modification.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/tinyproxy/tinyproxy
• https://github.com/tinyproxy/tinyproxy#readme
• https://github.com/tinyproxy/tinyproxy/releases
• https://tinyproxy.github.io/
• source_facts.package-manager