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ClamAV vs rgm

A side-by-side editorial comparison of ClamAV and rgm — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

ClamAV vs rgm: at a glance

FeatureClamAVrgm
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score5.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesantivirus, cve patches, file parsers, dual branchmicrobiome, graphical-models, bayesian-inference, cran-maintenance
Last editorial update11d ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is ClamAV?

Eight CVEs in one August batch — ClamAV's parser surface is the whole story.

ClamAV runs two supported lines, 1.5.x and 1.4.x, and publishes near-identical patch releases seconds apart whenever vulnerabilities land. The August pair is the largest yet in this window: eight CVEs in 1.5.4, six of them backported to 1.4.6, spanning the ZIP catalogue, GPT partition, PESpin, PDF, Mach-O and XAR parsers. Several reach back a decade or more — the PESpin overflow affects builds from 0.90 onward.

Read the full ClamAV trajectory →

What is rgm?

A microbiome network model that got itself un-archived by deleting the dependency that killed it.

rgm implements the random graphical model for microbiome interactions across related environments, published in JABES in 2026. The package was archived from CRAN in February 2026 because of its dependency on huge; the recovery release drops that dependency entirely, which cost it the graphical-lasso warm start that used to seed the initial graph — the default is now an empty graph, with warm starts left to the user. A post-processing function returning ggplot diagnostics arrived in the same release.

Read the full rgm trajectory →

ClamAV vs rgm: editorial side-by-side

C
ClamAV
INFRA · APIS
5.0

Eight CVEs in one August batch — ClamAV's parser surface is the whole story.

◆ Current state

ClamAV runs two supported lines, 1.5.x and 1.4.x, and publishes near-identical patch releases seconds apart whenever vulnerabilities land. The August pair is the largest yet in this window: eight CVEs in 1.5.4, six of them backported to 1.4.6, spanning the ZIP catalogue, GPT partition, PESpin, PDF, Mach-O and XAR parsers. Several reach back a decade or more — the PESpin overflow affects builds from 0.90 onward.

◆ Where it's heading

Feature work has been paused since 1.5.0 last October; everything since is patch traffic against the file format parsers, and the batches are growing rather than shrinking. The August release widens the surface beyond parsing for the first time here, with a clamd STATS thread-safety bug that could disclose process memory or crash the daemon. Reporter credits increasingly come from automated discovery — Atuin, GitHub Security Lab, Trail of Bits — which suggests the find rate tracks the tooling pointed at this codebase, not new code being written.

◆ Prediction

Expect the dual-branch pattern to continue and per-batch CVE counts to stay high while automated fuzzing keeps sweeping the parser surface. These entries give no indication of a 1.6 line opening — there has been no development release since the 1.5.0 cycle.

R
rgm
INFRA · APIS
0.0

A microbiome network model that got itself un-archived by deleting the dependency that killed it.

◆ Current state

rgm implements the random graphical model for microbiome interactions across related environments, published in JABES in 2026. The package was archived from CRAN in February 2026 because of its dependency on huge; the recovery release drops that dependency entirely, which cost it the graphical-lasso warm start that used to seed the initial graph — the default is now an empty graph, with warm starts left to the user. A post-processing function returning ggplot diagnostics arrived in the same release.

◆ Where it's heading

Three tags shipped inside two hours on one day, and the notes are candid about why: 1.1.0 held the actual work but was never released, 1.2.0 restated it under a higher version to signal the size of the change, and 1.2.1 answered CRAN pre-test feedback. Beyond the archival recovery, the visible work is housekeeping that had accumulated — a shadowed rmvnorm() definition, roxygen import tags that were silently emitting nothing, leftover C++ template scaffolding, and build artifacts under version control. The diagnostics function is the only genuinely new user-facing capability in the window.

◆ Prediction

The immediate task was restoring availability, and that is done; the open question the entries raise is whether losing the graphical-lasso warm start affects convergence in practice, which the new diagnostic plots are positioned to answer.

Alternatives to ClamAV and rgm

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either ClamAV or rgm.

See all ClamAV alternatives → · See all rgm alternatives →

Recent activity from ClamAV and rgm

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 12d agoClamAVEight parser CVEs and a clamd STATS disclosure fix
  2. 12d agoClamAV1.4 branch takes six of the eight parser CVEs
  3. 1mo agoClamAVPESpin use-after-free and PE overflow patched
  4. 1mo agoClamAVSame PE fixes backported to the 1.4 line
  5. 3mo agorgmJournal DOI replaces the preprint; promotional wording removed
  6. 3mo agorgmBack on CRAN after dropping the dependency that caused archival
  7. 3mo agorgmUnreleased twin of the CRAN recovery release
  8. 5mo agoClamAVHTML parser crash fixed; Rust floor raised again
  9. 5mo agoClamAV1.4 branch takes the HTML and TIFF parser fixes
  10. 2y agorgmFirst release: simulation, estimation and post-processing

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ClamAV and rgm?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. ClamAV is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is ClamAV better than rgm?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ClamAV is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to ClamAV?

Top ClamAV alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ClamAV alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/clamav for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to rgm?

Top rgm alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rgm alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rgm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.