macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install mandoclocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install mandocMacPorts ports tree · textproc/mandoc/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew
Install mandoc with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, zypper
UNIX manpage compiler toolset. Version 1.14.6 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add mandocAlpine Linux edge package indexes · mandoc · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install mandocDebian stable package indexes · mandoc · source: deb.debian.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install libmandoc-develFedora Rawhide package metadata · libmandoc-devel · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#mandocnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/ma/mandoc/package.nix · source: api.github.com
Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S mandocArch Linux sync databases · mandoc · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install mandocopenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · mandoc · source: download.opensuse.org
Windows
Scoopverified · 92%
scoop install main/mandocScoop official bucket manifest trees · bucket/mandoc.json · source: api.github.com
overview
Package summary
UNIX manpage compiler toolset
Project links
Commands and aliases
- bsdapropos
- bsdmakewhatis
- bsdman
- bsdsoelim
- bsdwhatis
- demandoc
- mandoc
history
Project history and usage
mandoc is a small, ISC-licensed Unix manual-page compiler toolset. Its official site describes it as compiling `mdoc`, `man`, and related roff manual sources to terminal output, HTML 5, PostScript, and PDF, with development centered on OpenBSD and BSD.lv.
Project history
The mandoc development history traces the project through the older `mdocml` name and rapid 2009 development by Kristaps Dzonsons, including releases around March and April 2009 and OpenBSD integration work. The `mandoc` name replaced `mdocterm` in March 2009, and the tool became closely associated with OpenBSD integration after cooperation between Kristaps Dzonsons and Ingo Schwarze.
The mandoc utility first appeared in OpenBSD 4.8. Over time it grew from a focused `mdoc` formatter into a broader toolset including `mandoc`, `man`, `apropos`, `makewhatis`, `catman`, `demandoc`, CGI support, database support, linting, HTML output, markdown output for `mdoc`, and related developer-facing libraries.
Adoption history
The official packages and ports page records broad adoption across BSDs and Linux distributions. OpenBSD bundled mandoc in the base system in 2010 and made it the default formatter, searcher, and viewer over later milestones; FreeBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD, illumos, macOS, Alpine, Void, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, Gentoo, NixOS, and others have packages or integrations.
That adoption matters because mandoc is not just another formatter: on several systems it replaces or complements groff/man-db for everyday `man` and `apropos` usage, making it part of the base documentation experience.
How it is used
At the CLI, `mandoc` reads `mdoc` or `man` input from files or stdin, auto-detects the language, and formats it for terminal display or other outputs. Output modes include ASCII, locale, UTF-8, HTML, man, markdown for `mdoc`, PDF, PostScript, and parse-tree output.
The `man.conf` manual documents `/etc/man.conf` as the configuration file for the mandoc-family `man`, `apropos`, and `makewhatis` utilities. Its directives can set manual search paths and output options, and the file is optional.
Why package nerds care
mandoc is significant to package maintainers because it is a lean alternative to full troff/groff stacks for manual-page rendering and validation. It is small, fast, portable C, and its linting helps find bad manual-page markup before packages ship.
It also has practical downstream impact: whether a system uses mandoc, man-db, groff, or a combination changes man-page rendering, HTML generation, apropos databases, and default configuration files.
Timeline
- 2009: `mdocterm` was renamed to `mandoc` during early development.
- 2009: OpenBSD imported mandoc 1.7.12 and began closer integration work.
- 2010: mandoc first appeared in OpenBSD 4.8.
- 2014: OpenBSD switched man(1) to the mandoc implementation.
- 2017: mandoc 1.14.2 added `-Tmarkdown` and other features.
- 2021: mandoc 1.14.6 was released with improved tagging and a new `mdoc(7)` macro.
Related projects
- mandoc is closely related to OpenBSD manual infrastructure, BSD.lv, `mdoc`, `man`, `roff`, `tbl`, `eqn`, `apropos`, and `makewhatis`.
- It is often compared with groff and man-db, and it powers or influences several manual-page web and package documentation tools.
Sources
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 6 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.
local files
Configuration and credential file locations
These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.
Configuration files
Config paths the tool may read or write during local use.
- Unix
/etc/man.conf
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
bsdapropos | cli | global executable | |
bsdmakewhatis | cli | global executable | |
bsdman | cli | global executable | |
bsdsoelim | cli | global executable | |
bsdwhatis | cli | global executable | |
demandoc | cli | global executable | |
mandoc | 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 version1.14.6
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
- infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
- infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://mandoc.bsd.lv/none confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:mandoc |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.14.6 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/mandoc |
| Homepage | https://mandoc.bsd.lv/ |
| Repository | https://mandoc.bsd.lv/cgi-bin/cvsweb/mandoc |
| Upstream docs | https://mandoc.bsd.lv/ |
| License | ISC |
| Source archive | https://mandoc.bsd.lv/snapshots/mandoc-1.14.6.tar.gz |
| Bottle | available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, 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 | mandoc |
| Aliases |
|
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 1 |
| Head Version | HEAD |
| Bottle Stable Root URL | https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core |
| Deprecated | no |
| Disabled | no |
| Keg Only | no |
| URL Keys |
|
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%
mandoc 1.14.6-4
BSD manpage compiler toolset
sudo apt install mandoc- Section: doc
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mdocml
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
Nix95%
mandoc
nix profile install nixpkgs#mandoc- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
Ubuntu apt95%
mandoc 1.14.6-1
BSD manpage compiler toolset
sudo apt install mandoc- Section: universe/doc
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mdocml
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
apk95%
mandoc 1.14.6-r15
mandoc (formerly mdocml) UNIX manpage compiler toolset
sudo apk add mandoc- License: ISC
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: mandoc
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
apk95%
mandoc-apropos 1.14.6-r15
makewhatis/whatis and apropos tools and index
sudo apk add mandoc-apropos- License: ISC
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: mandoc
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
apk95%
mandoc-dev 1.14.6-r15
mandoc (formerly mdocml) UNIX manpage compiler toolset (development files)
sudo apk add mandoc-dev- License: ISC
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: mandoc
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
apk95%
mandoc-doc 1.14.6-r15
mandoc (formerly mdocml) UNIX manpage compiler toolset (documentation)
sudo apk add mandoc-doc- License: ISC
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: mandoc
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
apk95%
mandoc-soelim 1.14.6-r15
so elimination tool
sudo apk add mandoc-soelim- License: ISC
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: mandoc
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
dnf95%
libmandoc-devel 1.14.6-13.fc44
Development libraries and headers for libmandoc
sudo dnf install libmandoc-devel- License: ISC AND BSD-2-Clause AND BSD-3-Clause
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: mandoc
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
dnf95%
mandoc 1.14.6-13.fc44
A suite of tools for compiling mdoc and man
sudo dnf install mandoc- License: ISC AND BSD-2-Clause AND BSD-3-Clause
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: mandoc
- 6 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
pacman95%
mandoc 1.14.6-5
A suite of tools compiling mdoc from the OpenBSD project
sudo pacman -S mandoc- License: ISC
- Architecture: x86_64
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
zypper95%
mandoc 1.14.6-7.3
UNIX manpage compiler
sudo zypper install mandoc- License: ISC
- Category: Productivity/Publishing/Troff
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: mandoc
- 6 dependencies
- 4 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
zypper95%
mandoc-bin 1.14.6-7.3
Format manual pages
sudo zypper install mandoc-bin- License: ISC
- Category: Productivity/Publishing/Troff
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: mandoc
- 2 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
MacPorts95%
mandoc
sudo port install mandoc- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
Scoop95%
main/mandoc
scoop install main/mandoc- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mandoc
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.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- Nucleus package database
- av.db category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- package relationship graph
- package version freshness
- package-page enrichment