# Install distribution with Homebrew, Nix, zypper Create ASCII graphical histograms in the terminal. Version 1.3 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:distribution ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install distribution ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata ### Linux - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#distribution ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/di/distribution/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install distribution-registry ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: distribution-registry from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:distribution - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 1.3 - **Source summary:** Create ASCII graphical histograms in the terminal - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** GPL-2.0-only - **Source archive:** - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - distribution (cli) - distribution (alias) ## Uses from macOS - python ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on all ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 1.3 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/time-less-ness/distribution - Upstream latest detected: 1.3 (current) - info: No package-manager update timestamp was available. ## Project history and usage distribution is a terminal histogram and graphing tool for turning command output into character-based charts. Its appeal is the old Unix habit of inserting one small filter into a pipeline to make text data easier to inspect. ### Project history The README says the original scripts were written in Perl and Python by Tim Ellis, then expanded beyond simple frequency histograms into time-series and arbitrary x-axis graphs. The current canonical README also records a project-control transfer from the previous maintainer to wizzat. ### Adoption history distribution's own installation notes mention Homebrew as the simple install route, while the input package facts show availability in Brew and Nix. That is modest adoption, but enough to place it in the family of small terminal data-inspection packages. ### How it is used The common pattern is to pipe a list, count stream, syslog slice, process list, or du output into distribution and let it render a proportional ASCII or Unicode chart. It supports tokenization, pre-aggregated key/value input, numeric-only graphs, colors, terminal-size aware output, and an rcfile for preferred defaults. ### Why package nerds care distribution is package-nerdy because it makes ad hoc shell observability friendlier without asking users to leave the terminal or produce a heavyweight plot. It is the kind of tiny data tool that survives in package managers because it composes with everything. ### Timeline - 2017: Current canonical GitHub repository created. - 2017: README records transfer of project control to the wizzat distribution repository. - 2022: Repository metadata shows continued maintenance activity into the early 2020s. ### Related projects - The README names holman's spark as a related compact graphing project, contrasting spark's smaller output with distribution's more verbose higher-resolution charts. - Standard Unix tools such as sort, uniq, du, awk, and ps are common upstream producers for distribution pipelines. ### Sources - - ## Security Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** distribution - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Nix - distribution: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/di/distribution/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - zypper - distribution-registry - 3.1.1-3.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: distribution-registry from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Registry server following OCI Distribution Specification | https://github.com/distribution/distribution ## Related links - [Source-control packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/source-control-tools/) - Belongs to a source-control command family. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Text processing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/text-processing-tools/) - Matched text, document, or structured-data processing metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [pixd](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pixd/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, terminal, visualization. - [mcp-server-chart](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/mcp-server-chart/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, visualization. - [spark](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/spark/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, terminal, visualization. - [clip](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/clip/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, visualization. - [opensearch-dashboards](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/opensearch-dashboards/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, visualization. - [csvlens](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/csvlens/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, terminal. - [innotop](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/innotop/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, terminal. - [iredis](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/iredis/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, terminal. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/distribution.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/distribution.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph