macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install mecablocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install mecabMacPorts ports tree · textproc/mecab/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew
Install mecab with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix
Yet another part-of-speech and morphological analyzer. Version 0.996 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-16.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install libmecab-devDebian stable package indexes · libmecab-dev · source: deb.debian.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install mecabFedora Rawhide package metadata · mecab · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#mecabnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/me/mecab/package.nix · source: api.github.com
overview
Package summary
Yet another part-of-speech and morphological analyzer
Project links
Commands and aliases
- mecab
- mecab-config
history
Project history and usage
MeCab is a Japanese part-of-speech and morphological analyzer. The official documentation describes it as an open-source engine developed through the Kyoto University Graduate School of Informatics and NTT Communication Science Laboratories joint research unit project.
Project history
MeCab was designed to be independent of language, dictionary, and corpus, using Conditional Random Fields for parameter estimation. Its documentation contrasts this with ChaSen's hidden Markov model and states that MeCab is faster on average than ChaSen, Juman, and KAKASI.
The release history in the official documentation starts with MeCab 0.90 as the initial release on 2006-03-26. Version 0.93 in July 2006 changed the license to a GPL, LGPL, or BSD triple-license model, and later releases added faster dictionary compilation, HMM training support, partial parsing APIs, retraining, and user dictionary cost estimation.
Adoption history
Official downloads separate the engine from dictionaries such as IPA, Juman, and UniDic, and list bindings for Perl, Ruby, Python, and Java. The input package facts show broad package-manager coverage across Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, MacPorts, and Nix, reflecting MeCab's long-lived role as infrastructure for Japanese NLP.
How it is used
The docs cover direct parsing, wakati output, output-format customization, character-set changes, N-best output, adding words, dictionary format details, unknown-word handling, partial parsing, soft-wakati output, the C/C++ library interface, and script-language bindings. The command-line tools `mecab` and `mecab-config` expose those capabilities to packages and build scripts.
Why package nerds care
MeCab is a classic package-manager NLP dependency: small native engine, separate dictionaries, command-line interface, C/C++ library, and bindings. It is especially important because many downstream Japanese text tools depend on the stable `mecab` executable and dictionary layout rather than embedding an analyzer.
Timeline
- 2006: MeCab 0.90 initial release.
- 2006: MeCab 0.93 changes licensing to GPL, LGPL, or BSD.
- 2012: MeCab 0.994 adds retraining and automatic user-dictionary cost estimation.
- 2013: MeCab 0.996 fixes iconv linking and adds user-dictionary CSV cost/context generation.
Related projects
- ChaSen, Juman, KAKASI, IPA dictionary, Juman dictionary, UniDic, mecab-ko.
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.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
mecab | cli | global executable | |
mecab-config | 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 version0.996
manager updated2026-06-16
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
- infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://taku910.github.io/mecab/none confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:mecab |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.996 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/mecab |
| Homepage | https://taku910.github.io/mecab/ |
| Repository | https://github.com/taku910/mecab |
| Upstream docs | https://taku910.github.io/mecab |
| License | GPL-2.0-only OR LGPL-2.1-only OR BSD-3-Clause |
| Source archive | https://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/m/mecab/mecab_0.996.orig.tar.gz |
| Last updated | 2026-06-16T20:46:20Z |
| Pulse | updated |
| 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 | mecab |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 0 |
| Conflicts With |
|
| 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%
libmecab-dev 0.996-15.1+b6
Header files of Mecab
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install libmecab-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Debian apt95%
libmecab-java 0.996-15.1
mecab binding for Java - java classes
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install libmecab-java- Section: java
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: mecab
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Debian apt95%
libmecab-jni 0.996-15.1+b6
mecab binding for Java - native interface
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install libmecab-jni- Section: java
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 4 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Debian apt95%
libmecab-perl 0.996-15.1+b6
Mecab binding for Perl
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install libmecab-perl- Section: perl
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 6 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Debian apt95%
libmecab2 0.996-15.1+b6
Libraries of Mecab
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install libmecab2- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 3 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Debian apt95%
mecab 0.996-15.1+b6
Japanese morphological analysis system
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install mecab- Section: misc
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 4 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Debian apt95%
mecab-utils 0.996-15.1+b6
Support programs of Mecab
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install mecab-utils- Section: misc
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 2 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Debian apt95%
python3-mecab 0.996-15.1+b6
Mecab binding for Python3
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install python3-mecab- Section: python
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 5 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Debian apt95%
ruby-mecab 0.996-15.1+b6
Mecab binding for Ruby language
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install ruby-mecab- Section: ruby
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 6 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Nix95%
mecab
nix profile install nixpkgs#mecab- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Ubuntu apt95%
libmecab-dev 0.996-14ubuntu4
Header files of Mecab
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install libmecab-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Ubuntu apt95%
libmecab-java 0.996-14ubuntu4
mecab binding for Java - java classes
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install libmecab-java- Section: universe/java
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: mecab
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Ubuntu apt95%
libmecab-jni 0.996-14ubuntu4
mecab binding for Java - native interface
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install libmecab-jni- Section: universe/java
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 4 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Ubuntu apt95%
libmecab-perl 0.996-14ubuntu4
Mecab binding for Perl
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install libmecab-perl- Section: universe/perl
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 6 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Ubuntu apt95%
libmecab2 0.996-14ubuntu4
Libraries of Mecab
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install libmecab2- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: mecab
- 3 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
Ubuntu apt95%
mecab 0.996-14ubuntu4
Japanese morphological analysis system
https://taku910.github.io/mecab/
sudo apt install mecab- Section: universe/misc
- Architecture: amd64
- 4 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Mecab
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 package history
- external package-manager database matches
- package relationship graph
- package version freshness
- package-page enrichment