brew

Install bibutils with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman

Bibliography conversion utilities. Version 7.2 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

Install command Security notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install bibutils

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%

sudo port install bibutils

MacPorts ports tree · tex/bibutils/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Debian aptverified · 92%

sudo apt install bibutils

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

Fedora dnfverified · 92%

sudo dnf install bibutils

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · bibutils · source: dl.fedoraproject.org

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#bibutils

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

Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%

sudo pacman -S bibutils

Arch Linux sync databases · bibutils · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com

overview

Package summary

Bibliography conversion utilities

Project links

Commands and aliases

bib2xml
bibdiff
biblatex2xml
copac2xml
ebi2xml
end2xml
endx2xml
isi2xml
med2xml
modsclean
nbib2xml
ris2xml
wordbib2xml
xml2ads
xml2bib
xml2biblatex
xml2end
xml2isi
xml2nbib
xml2ris
xml2wordbib

history

Project history and usage

bibutils is a suite of Unix-style bibliography conversion filters that translate between formats through a common MODS XML intermediate representation.

Project history

The official SourceForge wiki describes bibutils as a program set for interconverting bibliography formats using MODS XML as a common intermediate, reducing the number of converters needed for many input and output formats.

The documented development history groups changes by major versions: version 5 changed the default input and output character set to UTF-8 and added the ability to write MODS XML in multiple character sets, while later major versions reflect library changes.

Adoption history

bibutils is available across Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, and other package managers, which matches its role as a reusable command-line conversion toolkit for scripts.

Because it supports BibTeX, BibLaTeX, RIS, EndNote, ISI, PubMed/NBIB, Word bibliography, ADS, and MODS workflows, it is useful to users moving references among citation managers, library metadata systems, and publishing tools.

How it is used

Users chain format-specific converters such as ris2xml followed by xml2bib, or bib2xml followed by xml2ris, using MODS XML as the intermediate format.

The tools are intentionally command-line filters, making them suitable for shell pipelines, automated metadata cleanup, and larger bibliographic projects.

Why package nerds care

bibutils is a tidy example of Unix filter design applied to bibliography metadata: instead of maintaining N-squared pairwise converters, it centralizes conversion through MODS.

Package nerds care because it is one of those small, durable utilities that quietly make citation-manager and library-metadata interoperability scriptable.

Timeline

Version 2: Official development history records an early major-version line.
Version 5: Default input and output character set changes to UTF-8, with MODS XML output in multiple character sets.
Version 6: Major version changes because of library changes.
Version 7: Major version changes again because of library changes.

Related projects

MODS, the Library of Congress Metadata Object Description Schema, is the intermediate format used by bibutils.
BibTeX and BibLaTeX are both supported through bib2xml, biblatex2xml, xml2bib, and xml2biblatex.
RIS, EndNote, PubMed/NBIB, ISI, ADS, and Word bibliography formats are part of the conversion ecosystem documented by the project.

Sources

https://sourceforge.net/p/bibutils/home/Bibutils
https://sourceforge.net/p/bibutils/home/Working%20with%20MODS
source_facts.executables
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 13 platform targets.

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
`bib2xml`	cli	global executable
`bibdiff`	cli	global executable
`biblatex2xml`	cli	global executable
`copac2xml`	cli	global executable
`ebi2xml`	cli	global executable
`end2xml`	cli	global executable
`endx2xml`	cli	global executable
`isi2xml`	cli	global executable
`med2xml`	cli	global executable
`modsclean`	cli	global executable
`nbib2xml`	cli	global executable
`ris2xml`	cli	global executable
`wordbib2xml`	cli	global executable
`xml2ads`	cli	global executable
`xml2bib`	cli	global executable
`xml2biblatex`	cli	global executable
`xml2end`	cli	global executable
`xml2isi`	cli	global executable
`xml2nbib`	cli	global executable
`xml2ris`	cli	global executable
`xml2wordbib`	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 version7.2

manager updated

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://sourceforge.net/p/bibutils/home/Bibutils/

infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://sourceforge.net/p/bibutils/home/Bibutils/none confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:bibutils
Version	7.2
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/bibutils
Homepage	https://sourceforge.net/p/bibutils/home/Bibutils/
Upstream docs	https://sourceforge.net/p/bibutils/home/Bibutils
License	GPL-2.0-only
Source archive	https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/bibutils/bibutils_7.2_src.tgz
Bottle	available (on arm64_big_sur, arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, big_sur, catalina, 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	bibutils
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%

bibutils 7.2-3+b1

interconvert various bibliographic data formats

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bibutils/

sudo apt install bibutils

Section: text
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: bibutils
2 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

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

Debian apt95%

libbibutils-dev 7.2-3+b1

bibliography file converter, development kit

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bibutils/

sudo apt install libbibutils-dev

Section: libdevel
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: bibutils
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

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

Debian apt95%

libbibutils8 7.2-3+b1

bibliography file converter, shared library

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bibutils/

sudo apt install libbibutils8

Section: libs
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: bibutils
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: libbibutils8 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

Nix95%

bibutils

nix profile install nixpkgs#bibutils

normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/bi/bibutils/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

Ubuntu apt95%

bibutils 7.2-3

interconvert various bibliographic data formats

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bibutils/

sudo apt install bibutils

Section: universe/text
Architecture: amd64
2 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: bibutils from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

Ubuntu apt95%

libbibutils-dev 7.2-3

bibliography file converter, development kit

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bibutils/

sudo apt install libbibutils-dev

Section: universe/libdevel
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: bibutils
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libbibutils-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

Ubuntu apt95%

libbibutils8 7.2-3

bibliography file converter, shared library

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bibutils/

sudo apt install libbibutils8

Section: universe/libs
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: bibutils
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libbibutils8 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

dnf95%

bibutils 7.2-13.fc44

Bibliography conversion tools

http://sourceforge.net/p/bibutils/home/Bibutils/

sudo dnf install bibutils

License: GPL-2.0-only
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: x86_64
Source Package: bibutils
3 dependencies
1 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: bibutils from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst

dnf95%

bibutils-devel 7.2-13.fc44

Development files for bibutils

http://sourceforge.net/p/bibutils/home/Bibutils/

sudo dnf install bibutils-devel

License: GPL-2.0-only
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: i686
Source Package: bibutils
3 dependencies
2 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: bibutils-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst

dnf95%

bibutils-libs 7.2-13.fc44

Bibutils library

http://sourceforge.net/p/bibutils/home/Bibutils/

sudo dnf install bibutils-libs

License: GPL-2.0-only
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: i686
Source Package: bibutils
2 dependencies
2 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: bibutils-libs from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst

pacman95%

bibutils 7.2-4

Bibliography format interconversion

http://sourceforge.net/p/bibutils/home/Bibutils

sudo pacman -S bibutils

License: GPL-2.0-only
Architecture: x86_64
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

Arch Linux sync databases · geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com · Arch Linux sync databases: bibutils from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz

MacPorts95%

bibutils

sudo port install bibutils

normalized package name match
Matched by: Bibutils

MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: tex/bibutils/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

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/bibutils.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 bibutils with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman

Additional install commands

macOS

Linux

Package summary

Project links

Commands and aliases

Project history and usage

Project history

Adoption history

How it is used

Why package nerds care

Timeline

Related projects

Sources

Risk level: green

Risk classifier

Why

Signals

Install behavior

Recommended review

Installed executables

Version and freshness

Package metadata

Source database details

Other package-manager records

Internal package links

Topical hubs

Same workflow

Agent security guides

Generated from repository data

Combined YAML source

Used sources