brew

Install libicns with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Library for manipulation of the macOS .icns resource format. Version 0.8.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-19.

Install command Security notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install libicns

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%

sudo port install libicns

MacPorts ports tree · graphics/libicns/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Debian aptverified · 92%

sudo apt install icnsutils

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

Fedora dnfverified · 92%

sudo dnf install libicns

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · libicns · source: dl.fedoraproject.org

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#libicns

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

Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%

sudo pacman -S libicns

Arch Linux sync databases · libicns · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com

openSUSE zypperverified · 92%

sudo zypper install icns-utils

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · icns-utils · source: download.opensuse.org

overview

Package summary

Library for manipulation of the macOS .icns resource format

Project links

Commands and aliases

icns2png
icontainer2icns
png2icns

history

Project history and usage

libicns is a small library and utility set for manipulating Apple's .icns icon resource format outside Apple's native tooling.

Project history

The project page describes libicns as a library for the Mac OS icns resource format, including reading and writing Mac OS X icns files and reading Mac resource files and MacBinary-encoded resource forks.

SourceForge release records show early public tarballs in February 2008, a steady 0.5 and 0.6 series through 2008 and 2009, and the 0.8 line in 2012. Release 0.8.0 added support for PNG icns elements, icon variants, and TOC awareness; release 0.8.1 added 1024x1024 support and packaging/build fixes.

Adoption history

libicns filled a practical packaging gap for Unix and Linux desktops: converting macOS icon resources into PNGs and generating .icns files without requiring macOS development frameworks.

Its adoption stayed niche, but the utilities icns2png and png2icns made it useful in icon-theme packaging, cross-platform application packaging, and build scripts that needed to consume or emit Apple icon assets.

How it is used

Users most often install libicns for the command-line tools icns2png, png2icns, and icontainer2icns, while developers can link the library to read, write, inspect, and assemble icon-family elements.

Why package nerds care

libicns is package-nerd useful because it keeps an old platform-specific binary resource format scriptable on POSIX systems. It is not a glamorous dependency, but it is exactly the sort of tiny converter that keeps cross-platform release automation boring.

Timeline

2008: Early SourceForge tarballs published for the 0.0 and 0.1 series.
2009: 0.6 and 0.7 releases improved portability, licensing, and build behavior.
2012: 0.8.0 added PNG icns-element support and icon variant handling.
2012: 0.8.1 added 1024x1024 support and Debian/build fixes.

Related projects

Apple's .icns/IconFamily resource format is the direct file-format target.
Jasper and OpenJPEG are related through JPEG 2000-backed icon-element support.
IconFamily is noted by the project as a related Objective-C option for Mac OS X developers.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: orange

infrastructure mutation or orchestration signal.

Risk classifier

orange risk · medium confidence · infrastructure

Why

infrastructure mutation or orchestration signal

Signals

text:container

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 12 platform targets.
Installs with 2 runtime dependencies.

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

Command	Kind	Exposure
`icns2png`	cli	global executable
`icontainer2icns`	cli	global executable
`png2icns`	cli	global 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 version0.8.1

manager updated2026-06-19

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://icns.sourceforge.io/none confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:libicns
Version	0.8.1
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/libicns
Homepage	https://icns.sourceforge.io/
Repository	https://sourceforge.net/p/icns/code
Upstream docs	https://icns.sourceforge.io/
License	LGPL-2.0-or-later OR LGPL-2.1-or-later
Source archive	https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/icns/libicns-0.8.1.tar.gz
Last updated	2026-06-19T12:32:36-07:00
Pulse	updated
Dependencies	jasper, libpng
Bottle	available (on arm64_big_sur, arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, big_sur, monterey, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-install	not defined
Service	none declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source Database	Homebrew formula API
Tap	homebrew/core
Full Name	libicns
Version Scheme	0
Revision	5
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	no
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
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%

icnsutils 0.8.1.83.g921f972-0.1+b2

utilities for manipulating Mac OS icns files

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

sudo apt install icnsutils

Section: graphics
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: libicns
3 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

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

Debian apt95%

libicns-dev 0.8.1.83.g921f972-0.1+b2

libicns development files

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

sudo apt install libicns-dev

Section: libdevel
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: libicns
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: libicns-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

Debian apt95%

libicns1 0.8.1.83.g921f972-0.1+b2

library for manipulation of the Mac OS icns format

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

sudo apt install libicns1

Section: libs
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: libicns
3 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: libicns1 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

Nix95%

libicns

nix profile install nixpkgs#libicns

normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/li/libicns/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

Ubuntu apt95%

icnsutils 0.8.1.83.g921f972-0.1build2

utilities for manipulating Mac OS icns files

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

sudo apt install icnsutils

Section: universe/graphics
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: libicns
3 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: icnsutils from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

Ubuntu apt95%

libicns-dev 0.8.1.83.g921f972-0.1build2

libicns development files

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

sudo apt install libicns-dev

Section: universe/libdevel
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: libicns
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libicns-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

Ubuntu apt95%

libicns1 0.8.1.83.g921f972-0.1build2

library for manipulation of the Mac OS icns format

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

sudo apt install libicns1

Section: universe/libs
Architecture: amd64
Source Package: libicns
3 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libicns1 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

dnf95%

libicns 0.8.1-35.fc44

Library for manipulating Macintosh icns files

http://icns.sourceforge.net/

sudo dnf install libicns

License: LicenseRef-Callaway-LGPLv2+ AND GPL-2.0-or-later
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: i686
Source Package: libicns
4 dependencies
2 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libicns from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst

dnf95%

libicns-devel 0.8.1-35.fc44

Development files for libicns

http://icns.sourceforge.net/

sudo dnf install libicns-devel

License: LicenseRef-Callaway-LGPLv2+ AND GPL-2.0-or-later
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: i686
Source Package: libicns
4 dependencies
2 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libicns-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst

dnf95%

libicns-utils 0.8.1-35.fc44

Utilities for libicns

http://icns.sourceforge.net/

sudo dnf install libicns-utils

License: LicenseRef-Callaway-LGPLv2+ AND GPL-2.0-or-later
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: x86_64
Source Package: libicns
5 dependencies
1 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: libicns-utils from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst

pacman95%

libicns 0.8.1-11

Library for manipulating icns/IconFamily files

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

sudo pacman -S libicns

License: LGPL-2.1-or-later
Architecture: x86_64
2 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

Arch Linux sync databases · geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com · Arch Linux sync databases: libicns from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz

zypper95%

icns-utils 0.8.1+git20201014-1.21

Application for manipulation of the Mac OS icns

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

sudo zypper install icns-utils

License: GPL-2.0-only
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: x86_64
Source Package: libicns
3 dependencies
1 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: icns-utils from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst

zypper95%

libicns-devel 0.8.1+git20201014-1.21

Development files for libicns

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

sudo zypper install libicns-devel

License: LGPL-2.1-only
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: x86_64
Source Package: libicns
3 dependencies
2 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libicns-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst

zypper95%

libicns1 0.8.1+git20201014-1.21

System libraries for libicns

https://icns.sourceforge.io/

sudo zypper install libicns1

License: LGPL-2.1-only
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: x86_64
Source Package: libicns
4 dependencies
2 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libicns1 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst

MacPorts95%

libicns

sudo port install libicns

normalized package name match
Matched by: Libicns

MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: graphics/libicns/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

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.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/libicns.yml

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

Install libicns with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Additional install commands

macOS

Linux

Package summary

Project links

Commands and aliases

Project history and usage

Project history

Adoption history

How it is used

Why package nerds care

Timeline

Related projects

Sources

Risk level: orange

Risk classifier

Why

Signals

Install behavior

Recommended review

Installed executables

Version and freshness

Package metadata

Source database details

Other package-manager records

Internal package links

Topical hubs

Related tools

Same workflow

Agent security guides

Generated from repository data

Combined YAML source

Used sources