Automic VaultAutomic Vault

brew

Install cdk with Homebrew, apt, dnf, Nix, zypper

Curses development kit provides predefined curses widget for apps. Version 5.0-20260119 via Homebrew; verified 2026-05-17.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install cdk

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install libcdk-java

Debian stable package indexes · libcdk-java · source: deb.debian.org

Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install cdk

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

Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#cdk

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

openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install cdk-devel

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · cdk-devel · source: download.opensuse.org

overview

Package summary

Curses development kit provides predefined curses widget for apps

Commands and aliases

  • cdk5-config

history

Project history and usage

CDK, the Curses Development Kit, is a C curses widget library for building terminal user interfaces. Its official Invisible Island page describes it as a library of customizable curses widgets, similar in spirit to dialog but linked into applications.

Project history

The project was originally written by Mike Glover in the mid-1990s. Thomas E. Dickey's official history identifies CDK 4.6.0, with source files dated January 20, 1996, as the earliest version he had encountered and notes that Glover announced it in comp.sources.unix in January 1996.

Dickey became involved after Glover asked in late 1998 about distributing CDK with ncurses. Dickey reviewed the 4.9.8 code, reworked build and licensing issues, continued cleanup work, and released CDK 5.0 in April 2005.

Adoption history

The official history notes that CDK had already been built on several Unix systems, including Linux, SunOS, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and QNX 4. It also records ncurses mailing-list discussion from the late 1990s in which CDK was suggested to users wanting a higher-level interface than raw ncurses.

CDK's distribution history is tied to classic Unix source-package culture: comp.sources.unix announcements, QNX-hosted tarballs, ncurses-adjacent maintenance, and ports or packages across Unix-like systems.

How it is used

CDK is used when a C program needs form, dialog, menu, scrolling-list, and other terminal widgets without building every curses interaction from scratch. The Homebrew package exposes cdk5-config for build flags and metadata.

Why package nerds care

For package maintainers, CDK is interesting because it sits between low-level ncurses and full-screen TUI applications: it is a small library whose portability, ABI, licensing, and configure-script behavior mattered across many Unix packaging systems.

Timeline

  • 1996: CDK 4.6.0 announced in comp.sources.unix and distributed as source.
  • 1998: Mike Glover asks Thomas E. Dickey about distributing CDK with ncurses.
  • 1999: Dickey begins cleanup, configure-script work, and license repair.
  • 2005: CDK 5.0 released by Dickey.

Related projects

  • CDK is closely related to curses and ncurses, and its official page compares its role to dialog while emphasizing that CDK is a linkable widget library rather than a standalone dialog program.

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.

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
cdk5-configcliglobal 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 version5.0-20260119
manager updated2026-05-17
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected

https://invisible-island.net/cdk/

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:cdk
Version5.0-20260119
Package managerHomebrew
Package manager pagehttps://formulae.brew.sh/formula/cdk
Homepagehttps://invisible-island.net/cdk/
Upstream docshttps://invisible-island.net/cdk
LicenseX11-distribute-modifications-variant
Source archivehttps://invisible-mirror.net/archives/cdk/cdk-5.0-20260119.tgz
Last updated2026-05-17T09:02:23-04:00
Pulseupdated
Uses from macOSncurses
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 Namecdk
Version Scheme0
Revision0
Bottle Stable Root URLhttps://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecatedno
Disabledno
Keg Onlyno
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%

libcdk-java 1:2.11-1

Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) Java libraries

https://cdk.github.io/

sudo apt install libcdk-java
  • Section: java
  • Architecture: all
  • Source Package: cdk
  • 15 dependencies
  • 2 optional deps
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Cdk
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: libcdk-java from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Nix95%

cdk

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

libcdk-java 1:2.9-1

Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) Java libraries

https://cdk.github.io/

sudo apt install libcdk-java
  • Section: universe/libs
  • Architecture: all
  • Source Package: cdk
  • 14 dependencies
  • 2 optional deps
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Cdk
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libcdk-java from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
dnf95%

cdk 5.0.20260119-2.fc45

Curses Development Kit

https://invisible-island.net/cdk/

sudo dnf install cdk
  • License: X11-distribute-modifications-variant
  • Category: Unspecified
  • Architecture: i686
  • Source Package: cdk
  • 2 dependencies
  • 2 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Cdk
Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: cdk from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst
dnf95%

cdk-devel 5.0.20260119-2.fc45

Development files for cdk

https://invisible-island.net/cdk/

sudo dnf install cdk-devel
  • License: X11-distribute-modifications-variant
  • Category: Unspecified
  • Architecture: i686
  • Source Package: cdk
  • 3 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Cdk
Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: cdk-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst
dnf95%

cdk-doc 5.0.20260119-2.fc45

Documentation and examples for cdk

https://invisible-island.net/cdk/

sudo dnf install cdk-doc
  • License: X11-distribute-modifications-variant
  • Category: Unspecified
  • Architecture: noarch
  • Source Package: cdk
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Cdk
Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: cdk-doc from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst
zypper95%

cdk-devel 5.0.20230201-1.7

Development Part of Curses Development Kit

https://invisible-island.net/cdk/

sudo zypper install cdk-devel
  • License: BSD-3-Clause
  • Category: Development/Libraries/C and C++
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: cdk
  • 3 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Cdk
openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: cdk-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst
zypper95%

libcdk6_3_4 5.0.20230201-1.7

The Runtime for the Curses Development Kit - Shared library

https://invisible-island.net/cdk/

sudo zypper install libcdk6_3_4
  • License: BSD-3-Clause
  • Category: Development/Libraries/C and C++
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: cdk
  • 5 dependencies
  • 3 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Cdk
openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libcdk6_3_4 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst

package graph

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

Same workflow

  • ncursesShares av.db curated category or tags: c-library, cli, curses, developer-tools, libraries.
  • dialogShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, curses, developer-tools, terminal-ui, widgets.
  • expatShares av.db curated category or tags: c-library, cli, developer-tools, libraries.
  • flowrsShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, terminal-ui, tui.
  • fstrmShares av.db curated category or tags: c-library, cli, developer-tools, libraries.
  • gituShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, terminal-ui, tui.
  • cdkSame normalized package name in another local ecosystem.

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