# Install libfreehand with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper Interpret and import Aldus/Macromedia/Adobe FreeHand documents. Version 0.1.3 via Homebrew; verified 2026-05-26. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:libfreehand ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install libfreehand ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install libfreehand ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: graphics/libfreehand/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add libfreehand ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libfreehand from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install libfreehand-0.1-1 ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: libfreehand-0.1-1 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install libfreehand ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libfreehand 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#libfreehand ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/li/libfreehand/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S libfreehand ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: libfreehand from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install libfreehand-0_1-1 ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libfreehand-0_1-1 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:libfreehand - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 0.1.3 - **Source summary:** Interpret and import Aldus/Macromedia/Adobe FreeHand documents - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** MPL-2.0 - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-05-26T16:07:06Z - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T18:08:21+00:00 ## Executables - fh2raw (cli) - fh2svg (cli) - fh2text (cli) - fh2raw (alias) - fh2svg (alias) - fh2text (alias) ## Dependencies - librevenge - little-cms2 ## Build dependencies - boost - icu4c@78 - pkgconf ## 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: 0.1.3 - Package-manager updated: 2026-05-26 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand - info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories. ## Project history and usage libfreehand is a Document Liberation Project library for parsing Aldus, Macromedia, and Adobe FreeHand files so that office and graphics software can import a discontinued proprietary vector format. ### Project history The Document Foundation wiki describes libfreehand as a parser for FreeHand documents from versions 3 through 11. Its source distribution archive records 0.0.0 tarballs dated 2013-10-31, followed by 0.1.0 on 2014-05-23, 0.1.1 on 2015-06-11, 0.1.2 on 2017-09-16, and 0.1.3 on 2026-05-26. The library belongs to the Document Liberation Project, which says it was born in April 2014 after a family of file-format libraries grew too large for its earlier home. The project goal is to help users escape vendor lock-in by converting proprietary document formats toward open formats such as ODF. ### Adoption history libfreehand followed the same adoption path as several LibreOffice-era import libraries: it served LibreOffice first, then became a standalone library that other distributions and applications could package. Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, MacPorts, Nix, and openSUSE package records in the input show that it is distributed well beyond LibreOffice source builds. ### How it is used The command-line tools fh2raw, fh2svg, and fh2text expose the parser for inspection and conversion workflows. In desktop software, the library is most important as an import component for opening old FreeHand artwork rather than as an end-user command. ### Why package nerds care libfreehand matters to package nerds because it preserves access to an abandoned professional graphics format without requiring Adobe software. It is also a tidy example of the Document Liberation pattern: small C++ libraries split out so distributions can patch, fuzz, and update document importers independently. ### Timeline - 2013-10-31: LibreOffice source archive lists libfreehand 0.0.0 tarballs. - 2014-04: The Document Liberation Project says it was born within The Document Foundation framework. - 2014-05-23: LibreOffice source archive lists libfreehand 0.1.0. - 2017-09-16: LibreOffice source archive lists libfreehand 0.1.2. - 2026-05-26: LibreOffice source archive lists libfreehand 0.1.3. ### Related projects - LibreOffice uses Document Liberation Project libraries for legacy and proprietary import filters. - Sibling Document Liberation libraries include importers for formats such as WordPerfect, Microsoft Works, and older Mac document families. ### Sources - - - - ## Security Notes broad file, network, media, or database tool signal. - **Geiger risk:** blue / medium - broad file, network, media, or database tool signal ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** libfreehand - **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 - libfreehand-0.1-1 - 0.1.2-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libfreehand-0.1-1 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Library for parsing the FreeHand file format structure | http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/libfreehand - Debian apt - libfreehand-dev - 0.1.2-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libfreehand-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Library for parsing the FreeHand file format structure -- development | http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/libfreehand - Nix - libfreehand: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/li/libfreehand/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - libfreehand-0.1-1 - 0.1.2-3build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libfreehand-0.1-1 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Library for parsing the FreeHand file format structure | http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/libfreehand - Ubuntu apt - libfreehand-dev - 0.1.2-3build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libfreehand-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Library for parsing the FreeHand file format structure -- development | http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/libfreehand - apk - libfreehand - 0.1.2-r12: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libfreehand from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Import filter and tools for Adobe FreeHand documents | https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand - apk - libfreehand-dev - 0.1.2-r12: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libfreehand-dev from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Import filter and tools for Adobe FreeHand documents (development files) | https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand - apk - libfreehand-doc - 0.1.2-r12: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libfreehand-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Import filter and tools for Adobe FreeHand documents (documentation) | https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand - apk - libfreehand-tools - 0.1.2-r12: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libfreehand-tools from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Import filter and tools for Adobe FreeHand documents | https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand - dnf - libfreehand - 0.1.2-27.fc44: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libfreehand from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | A library for import of Macromedia/Adobe FreeHand documents | http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand - dnf - libfreehand-devel - 0.1.2-27.fc44: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libfreehand-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Development files for libfreehand | http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand - dnf - libfreehand-doc - 0.1.2-27.fc44: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libfreehand-doc from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Documentation of libfreehand API | http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand - dnf - libfreehand-tools - 0.1.2-27.fc44: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libfreehand-tools from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Tools to transform Macromedia/Adobe FreeHand documents into other formats | http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand - pacman - libfreehand - 0.1.3-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: libfreehand from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | a library for import of Aldus/Macromedia/Adobe FreeHand documents | https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand - zypper - libfreehand-0_1-1 - 0.1.2-2.27: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libfreehand-0_1-1 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Library for parsing the Adobe/Macromedia drawings | http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/libfreehand - zypper - libfreehand-devel - 0.1.2-2.27: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libfreehand-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Files for Developing with libfreehand | http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/libfreehand ## Related links - [Secret-risk packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/secret-risk-packages/) - Has protected-tool coverage, approval-gate, or non-low Geiger security signals. - [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. - [little-cms2](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/little-cms2/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [pkgconf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pkgconf/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [pstoedit](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pstoedit/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, document-conversion, media, vector-graphics. - [asymptote](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/asymptote/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, media, vector-graphics. - [ivtools](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ivtools/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, media, vector-graphics. - [scour](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/scour/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, media, vector-graphics. - [djvu2pdf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/djvu2pdf/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, document-conversion, media. - [paps](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/paps/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, document-conversion, media. - [ps2eps](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ps2eps/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, document-conversion, media. - [unrtf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/unrtf/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, document-conversion, media. - [synfig](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/synfig/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cli, cms2, graphics, little, little-cms2. - [ghostscript](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ghostscript/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cli, cms2, conversion, document, document-conversion. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/libfreehand.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/libfreehand.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