# Install fdclone with Homebrew, apt, MacPorts

Console-based file manager. Version 3.01j via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-03.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:fdclone
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install fdclone
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install FDclone
```

  Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: sysutils/FDclone/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Linux

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install fdclone
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:fdclone
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Package manager page:** <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/fdclone>
- **Version:** 3.01j
- **Source summary:** Console-based file manager
- **Homepage:** <https://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/>
- **Upstream docs:** <https://www.unixusers.net/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/index.html>
- **License:** LicenseRef-Homebrew-cannot-represent
- **Source archive:** <https://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/f/fdclone/fdclone_3.01j.orig.tar.gz>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-03T16:35:56-04:00
- **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00

## Executables

- fdsh (cli)
- fdsh (alias)

## Build dependencies

- nkf

## Uses from macOS

- ncurses

## Install behavior

- Post-install hook: not defined
- Caveats: To install the initial config file: install -c -m 0644 $HOMEBREW_PREFIX/opt/fdclone/share/fdclone/fd2rc.dist ~/.fd2rc To set application messages to Japanese, edit your .fd2rc: MESSAGELANG="ja"
- Bottle: available on arm64_big_sur, arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sonoma, arm64_ventura, big_sur, catalina, monterey, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-07-08
- Package-manager version: 3.01j
- Package-manager updated: 2026-07-03
- Local data: ok
- Upstream repository: https://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/
- info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.
## Project history and usage

FDclone is a console file and directory maintenance tool for Unix-like systems, modeled after the Japanese MS-DOS file manager FD and shipped with an integrated shell as `fdsh`.

### Project history

The English README says FDclone is a Unix file and directory maintenance tool and a clone of the MS-DOS FD utility made by A. Idei in 1989. Takashi Shirai wrote FDclone to preserve the familiar FD-style workflow for users moving from MS-DOS to Unix while implementing the program independently.

The official project page explains that FDclone 2.00 was a major change because it embedded shell functionality without using `system(3)`. FDclone 3.00 arrived seven years after 2.00 because network support required large changes to source organization and required libraries.

### Adoption history

The official page describes FD as popular enough among Japanese MS-DOS users that its name became a synonym for file maintenance tools. FDclone carried that interaction model into Unix terminals, with attention to Japanese text handling, terminal behavior, archives, and a split-window browser.

The official history records portability and environment support over many years: Linux/ia64, Cygwin, NetBSD, MINIX, Android, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Darwin or Mac OS X fixes. The supplied package metadata also shows FDclone packaged by Homebrew, Debian/Ubuntu, and MacPorts.

### How it is used

The English manual describes `fd` as a text-terminal browser with file lists, tree and archive browser modes, marked-file operations, function-key commands, and internal commands for copying, deleting, renaming, sorting, finding, packing, unpacking, and editing files.

The `fdsh` executable exposes the internal shell side. That makes FDclone unusual among file managers in package collections: it is both a visual terminal file manager and a shell environment shaped by its MS-DOS heritage.

### Why package nerds care

FDclone is historically interesting because it preserves a Japanese DOS-era file-manager lineage inside Unix package managers. It is not a modern minimal CLI; it is a compatibility and culture artifact with deep terminal, Kanji, archive, network, and shell behavior.

For package maintainers, its significance is also practical: the official history shows long-running portability work across older Unix variants, Japanese encodings, Cygwin, Android, BSDs, MINIX, and MS-DOS build modes.

### Timeline

- 1989: Original MS-DOS FD utility created by A. Idei.
- 2008: FDclone 3.00 added URL drive, socket redirection, and message catalogs.
- 2012: FDclone 3.01 added IME-related variables and frequency dictionary features.
- 2019: FDclone 3.01j fixed symbolic-link handling and Kanji conversion issues.

### Related projects

- FDclone is directly related to the original MS-DOS FD file maintenance tool by A. Idei.
- The README also mentions an earlier Unix file maintenance tool named `fu`, whose users reportedly aliased it to `fd`, reinforcing the value of the FD name for DOS-to-Unix users.

### Sources

- <http://www.unixusers.net/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/index.html>
- <http://www.unixusers.net/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/README.eng.txt>
- <http://www.unixusers.net/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/HISTORY.eng.txt>
- <http://www.unixusers.net/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/fd_e.txt>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/fdclone>


## 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:** fdclone
- **Version Scheme:** 0
- **Revision:** 0
- **Conflicts With:** fd
- **Requirements:** maximum_macos
- **Bottle Stable Root URL:** <https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core>
- **Deprecated:** yes
- **Disabled:** no
- **Keg Only:** no
- **URL Keys:** stable

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - fdclone - 3.01j-1.1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: fdclone from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | console-base lightweight file manager | https://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/
- Ubuntu apt - fdclone - 3.01j-1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: fdclone from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | console-base lightweight file manager | http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/
- MacPorts - FDclone: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: sysutils/FDclone/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Related links

- [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata.
- [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata.
- [Productivity CLI packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/productivity-cli-packages/) - Matched curated productivity category metadata from av.db.
- [Homebrew utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew-utility-packages/) - Matched Homebrew package provider.
- [nkf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/nkf/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew.
- [ctpv](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ctpv/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, file-management, file-manager, productivity, terminal.
- [far2l-tty](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/far2l-tty/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, file-management, file-manager, productivity, terminal.
- [lf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/lf/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, file-management, file-manager, productivity, terminal.
- [midnight-commander](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/midnight-commander/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, file-management, file-manager, productivity, terminal.
- [nnn](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/nnn/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, file-management, file-manager, productivity, terminal.
- [projectable](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/projectable/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, file-management, file-manager, productivity, terminal.
- [superfile](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/superfile/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, file-management, file-manager, productivity, terminal.
- [vim](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/vim/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, file-management, file-manager, productivity, terminal.
- [yazi](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/yazi/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: based, cli, file, file-management, file-manager.

## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/fdclone.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/fdclone.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
