Automic VaultAutomic Vault

brew

Install hexcurse with Homebrew, apt, Nix

Ncurses-based console hex editor. Version 1.60.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install hexcurse

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install hexcurse

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

Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#hexcurse

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

overview

Package summary

Ncurses-based console hex editor

Commands and aliases

  • hexcurse

history

Project history and usage

Hexcurse is a C ncurses console hex editor with an early-2000s release history and a revived GitHub maintenance home.

Project history

The upstream README says Hexcurse was written by Lonny Gomes and James Stephenson, then left unmaintained for a time before the maintainers noticed an old tarball circulating and restarted maintenance from a GitHub repository. The ChangeLog records a first release in May 2001, followed by rapid 2001-2003 development of undo, search, resizing, EBCDIC mode, large-file portability fixes, and terminal behavior improvements.

After older 1.5x releases, the GitHub-era history includes a 1.58 release in 2014 and a 1.60.0 release in November 2015. The 1.60.0 ChangeLog entry switched versioning toward semver, added color support, improved signal handling, fixed failed-save behavior, and incorporated several community pull requests.

Adoption history

Hexcurse's long package life reflects its plain C/ncurses build model and traditional console UI. The input package metadata records Homebrew, Debian, Nix, and Ubuntu packages, and the Homebrew formula packages the v1.60.0 GitHub archive.

How it is used

Hexcurse opens, edits, and saves files while showing hexadecimal and character windows. It supports searching, decimal or hexadecimal addresses, jumps, undo, bold markers for modified bytes, EBCDIC mode, and keyboard shortcuts for save, open, goto, find, mode toggle, paging, and quit.

Why package nerds care

Hexcurse matters as one of the small curses hex editors that survived by being easy to build and package. Its history shows a common Unix package pattern: an old tarball-era utility rehomed on GitHub, lightly modernized, and kept useful through distro packaging rather than heavy feature churn.

Timeline

  • 2001: First Hexcurse release recorded in the ChangeLog.
  • 2002: 1.40 and 1.50 releases add resizing, decimal addressing, EBCDIC mode, and portability fixes.
  • 2003: 1.55 fixes a file-saving bug.
  • 2013: GitHub repository created.
  • 2014: 1.58 adds large-file support from a contributor patch.
  • 2015: 1.60.0 release adds color support and several maintenance fixes.

Related projects

  • Hexcurse is related to full-screen terminal hex editors such as hexedit and to lower-level byte inspection tools such as hexdump and xxd, but it emphasizes ncurses editing rather than one-shot dumping.

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

CommandKindExposureNote
hexcursecliglobal 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 version1.60.0
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamcurrent
latest detectedv1.60.0

https://github.com/LonnyGomes/hexcurse

  • infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:hexcurse
Version1.60.0
Package managerHomebrew
Package manager pagehttps://formulae.brew.sh/formula/hexcurse
Homepagehttps://github.com/LonnyGomes/hexcurse
Repositoryhttps://github.com/LonnyGomes/hexcurse
Upstream docshttps://github.com/LonnyGomes/hexcurse#readme
LicenseGPL-2.0-or-later
Source archivehttps://github.com/LonnyGomes/hexcurse/archive/refs/tags/v1.60.0.tar.gz
Uses from macOSncurses
Bottleavailable (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-installnot defined
Servicenone declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source DatabaseHomebrew formula API
Taphomebrew/core
Full Namehexcurse
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%

hexcurse 1.58-1.4

Ncurses-based hex editor with many features

sudo apt install hexcurse
  • Section: utils
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 3 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Hexcurse
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: hexcurse from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Nix95%

hexcurse

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

hexcurse 1.58-1.4

Ncurses-based hex editor with many features

sudo apt install hexcurse
  • Section: universe/utils
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 3 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Hexcurse
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: hexcurse from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

package graph

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

Same workflow

  • dhexShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, hex-editor, ncurses.
  • hexapodaShares av.db curated category or tags: binary, cli, developer-tools, hex-editor.
  • hexeditShares av.db curated category or tags: binary, cli, developer-tools, hex-editor.
  • hyxShares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, developer-tools, hex-editor.
  • tweakShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, hex-editor, ncurses.
  • bviShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, hex-editor.

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