# Install libchardet with Homebrew, apt, dnf, Nix, pacman, zypper Mozilla's Universal Charset Detector C/C++ API. Version 1.0.6 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-22. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:libchardet ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install libchardet ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata ### Linux - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install libchardet-dev ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: libchardet-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install libchardet ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libchardet from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#libchardet ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/li/libchardet/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S libchardet ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: libchardet from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install libchardet-devel ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libchardet-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:libchardet - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 1.0.6 - **Source summary:** Mozilla's Universal Charset Detector C/C++ API - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** MPL-1.1 OR LGPL-2.1-only - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-06-22T14:05:15-07:00 - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - chardet-config (cli) - chardet-config (alias) ## Build dependencies - autoconf - automake - libtool ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 1.0.6 - Package-manager updated: 2026-06-22 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/Joungkyun/libchardet - Upstream latest detected: 1.0.6 (current) ## Project history and usage libchardet is a C/C++ API around Mozilla's Universal Charset Detector lineage. It detects the likely character encoding of byte streams, a task that matters when programs ingest legacy text without reliable charset labels. ### Project history Mozilla's archived charset detector documentation describes the original detector as an XPCOM component that receives bytes and guesses the charset. A companion Mozilla document from 2002 explains that the universal detector implementation was separable from the XPCOM wrapper and could be used by other projects. The libchardet README says the library is based on Mozilla Universal Charset Detector code originally written by Netscape Communications Corporation, with a C wrapping API and libtool build environment. It also records later changes: version 1.0.5 incorporated single-byte charset confidence ideas and language models from uchardet, and version 1.0.6 added BOM reporting. ### Adoption history libchardet's adoption is narrower than Python chardet or uchardet, but it fills the same packaging niche for C/C++ consumers that need Mozilla-style charset guessing without embedding the whole browser-era component. The batch input lists packages in Homebrew, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Nix, and openSUSE, mostly as a development library. ### How it is used The repository documents a small API centered on detect_obj_init, detect or detect_r, confidence reporting, and object cleanup. The package also installs chardet-config for build integration, so downstream C/C++ projects can compile against the library. ### Why package nerds care libchardet is significant because charset detection is one of those small compatibility problems that keeps returning in editors, importers, scrapers, mail tools, and document converters. It also shows how browser infrastructure escaped into standalone libraries: Mozilla/Netscape detection code became reusable C, Python, Perl, and other language bindings. ### Timeline - 2002-08-15: Mozilla charset detector documentation was last modified. - 2002-11-06: Mozilla standalone universal charset detector notes described using the detector outside Mozilla. - 2019: libchardet README copyright line names JoungKyun.Kim and describes the standalone C/C++ API. - 2021-05-13: GitHub release listing shows libchardet 1.0.6. ### Related projects - Related projects include Mozilla Universal Charset Detector, uchardet, Python chardet, John Gardiner Myers's Encode-Detect Perl module, and applications that need to infer encodings before decoding text. ### Sources - - - - - ## Security Notes library-like package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - library-like package without higher-risk signals ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** libchardet - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - libchardet-dev - 1.0.6-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libchardet-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | universal charset detection library - development files | https://github.com/Joungkyun/libchardet - Debian apt - libchardet1t64 - 1.0.6-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libchardet1t64 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | universal charset detection library - shared library | https://github.com/Joungkyun/libchardet - Nix - libchardet: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/li/libchardet/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - libchardet-dev - 1.0.4-1.1build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libchardet-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | universal charset detection library - development files | https://ftp.oops.org/pub/oops/libchardet/ - Ubuntu apt - libchardet1t64 - 1.0.4-1.1build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libchardet1t64 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | universal charset detection library - shared library | https://ftp.oops.org/pub/oops/libchardet/ - dnf - libchardet - 1.0.5-23.fc44: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libchardet from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Mozilla's universal character set detector | http://ftp.oops.org/pub/oops/libchardet/ - dnf - libchardet-devel - 1.0.5-23.fc44: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libchardet-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Header and object files for development using libchardet | http://ftp.oops.org/pub/oops/libchardet/ - pacman - libchardet - 1.0.6-4: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: libchardet from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Mozilla's Universal Charset Detector C/C++ API | http://ftp.oops.org/pub/oops/libchardet - zypper - libchardet-devel - 1.0.6-2.4: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libchardet-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Development files of libchardet | https://github.com/Joungkyun/libchardet - zypper - libchardet1 - 1.0.6-2.4: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libchardet1 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Mozilla Universal Chardet library | https://github.com/Joungkyun/libchardet ## 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. - [Developer build packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/developer-build-tools/) - Matched build, compiler, generator, or developer workflow metadata. - [autoconf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/autoconf/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [automake](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/automake/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [libtool](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libtool/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [bsdconv](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/bsdconv/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, library, text-processing. - [hunspell](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/hunspell/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, library, text-processing. - [libunicode](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libunicode/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, library, text-processing. - [tal](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/tal/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, developer-tools, text-processing. - [abi-dumper](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/abi-dumper/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, cpp, developer-tools. - [ada-url](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ada-url/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, cpp, developer-tools, library. - [align](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/align/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, text-processing. - [bcpp](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/bcpp/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, cpp, developer-tools. - [recode](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/recode/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: charset, cli, developer, developer-tools, encoding. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/libchardet.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/libchardet.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