# Install montage with Homebrew, apt, MacPorts Toolkit for assembling FITS images into custom mosaics. Version 6.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-25. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:montage ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install montage ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install montage ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: science/montage/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install montage ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: montage from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:montage - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 6.0 - **Source summary:** Toolkit for assembling FITS images into custom mosaics - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** BSD-3-Clause - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-06-25T13:37:55+02:00 - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T18:08:21+00:00 ## Executables - mAdd (cli) - mAddCube (cli) - mArchiveExec (cli) - mArchiveGet (cli) - mArchiveList (cli) - mBackground (cli) - mBestImage (cli) - mBgExec (cli) - mBgModel (cli) - mCalExec (cli) - mCalibrate (cli) - mCatMap (cli) - mCatSearch (cli) - mConcatFit (cli) - mConvert (cli) - mCoverageCheck (cli) - mDAG (cli) - mDAGFiles (cli) - mDAGGalacticPlane (cli) - mDAGTbls (cli) - mDiff (cli) - mDiffExec (cli) - mDiffFit (cli) - mDiffFitExec (cli) - mExamine (cli) - mExec (cli) - mExecTG (cli) - mFitExec (cli) - mFitplane (cli) - mFixHdr (cli) - mFixNaN (cli) - mFlattenExec (cli) - mGetHdr (cli) - mGridExec (cli) - mHdr (cli) - mHdrCheck (cli) - mHdrWWT (cli) - mHdrWWTExec (cli) - mHdrtbl (cli) - mHistogram (cli) - mImgtbl (cli) - mMakeHdr (cli) - mMakeImg (cli) - mNotify (cli) - mNotifyTG (cli) - mOverlaps (cli) - mPNGWWTExec (cli) - mPad (cli) - mPix2Coord (cli) - mPresentation (cli) - mProjWWTExec (cli) - mProject (cli) - mProjectCube (cli) - mProjectPP (cli) - mProjectQL (cli) - mPutHdr (cli) - mRotate (cli) - mShrink (cli) - mShrinkCube (cli) - mShrinkHdr (cli) - mSubCube (cli) - mSubimage (cli) - mTblExec (cli) - mTblSort (cli) - mTileHdr (cli) - mTileImage (cli) - mTranspose (cli) - mAdd (alias) - mAddCube (alias) - mArchiveExec (alias) - mArchiveGet (alias) - mArchiveList (alias) - mBackground (alias) - mBestImage (alias) - mBgExec (alias) - mBgModel (alias) - mCalExec (alias) - mCalibrate (alias) - mCatMap (alias) - mCatSearch (alias) - mConcatFit (alias) - mConvert (alias) - mCoverageCheck (alias) - mDAG (alias) - mDAGFiles (alias) - mDAGGalacticPlane (alias) - mDAGTbls (alias) - mDiff (alias) - mDiffExec (alias) - mDiffFit (alias) - mDiffFitExec (alias) - mExamine (alias) - mExec (alias) - mExecTG (alias) - mFitExec (alias) - mFitplane (alias) - mFixHdr (alias) - mFixNaN (alias) - mFlattenExec (alias) - mGetHdr (alias) - mGridExec (alias) - mHdr (alias) - mHdrCheck (alias) - mHdrWWT (alias) - mHdrWWTExec (alias) - mHdrtbl (alias) - mHistogram (alias) - mImgtbl (alias) - mMakeHdr (alias) - mMakeImg (alias) - mNotify (alias) - mNotifyTG (alias) - mOverlaps (alias) - mPNGWWTExec (alias) - mPad (alias) - mPix2Coord (alias) - mPresentation (alias) - mProjWWTExec (alias) - mProject (alias) - mProjectCube (alias) - mProjectPP (alias) - mProjectQL (alias) - mPutHdr (alias) - mRotate (alias) - mShrink (alias) - mShrinkCube (alias) - mShrinkHdr (alias) - mSubCube (alias) - mSubimage (alias) - mTblExec (alias) - mTblSort (alias) - mTileHdr (alias) - mTileImage (alias) - mTranspose (alias) ## Dependencies - cfitsio - freetype - jpeg-turbo ## Uses from macOS - bzip2 ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Caveats: Montage is under the Caltech/JPL non-exclusive, non-commercial software licence agreement available at: http://montage.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/download.html - 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 ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 6.0 - Package-manager updated: 2026-06-25 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: http://montage.ipac.caltech.edu - info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories. ## Project history and usage Montage is an astronomy image-mosaicking toolkit associated with Caltech/IPAC and the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive. A 2008 CaltechAUTHORS record for the chapter "Web-based tools-montage: An astronomical image mosaic engine" lists G. Bruce Berriman, J. C. Good, A. C. Laity, J. C. Jacob, D. S. Katz, E. Deelman, G. Singh, and M.-H. Su among the creators, notes NASA and Caltech funding, and says the code is maintained by IRSA. The same record describes the central design promise: preserve calibration and astrometric fidelity while producing user-specified mosaics in astronomy coordinate systems and projections. ### Project history Technically, Montage became important because it is not only a monolithic mosaic maker. Its tools expose separate steps for image geometry analysis, reprojection, background matching, metadata table building, coaddition, and visualization, which is why the Homebrew package ships many small commands such as mProject, mDiff, mBgModel, mAdd, mImgtbl, mMakeHdr, and mViewer-related utilities. The Caltech record emphasizes ANSI C portability across Unix-like desktop, cluster, and supercomputer environments; later IPAC publication metadata describes it as a scalable C toolkit for FITS mosaics used in astronomy and information-technology communities for research, product generation, cyber-infrastructure, and visualization workflows. ### How it is used In practice, Montage sits in the scientific-command-line niche rather than the general image-processing niche. Astronomers use it to assemble science-grade FITS mosaics from survey or user images while keeping World Coordinate System metadata meaningful; workflow systems and archive services can compose its executables into larger pipelines. Version 5-era work added visualization features around mViewer, HEALPix input, and TOAST organization for WorldWide Telescope-style consumption, broadening the toolkit from mosaic generation into reproducible visual data products. ### 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:** montage - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 1 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Conflicts With:** wdiff - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - montage - 6.1+dfsg-1+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: montage from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Toolkit for assembling FITS images into mosaics | http://montage.ipac.caltech.edu/ - Debian apt - montage-gridtools - 6.1+dfsg-1+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: montage-gridtools from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Create files to run montage on the grid | http://montage.ipac.caltech.edu/ - Debian apt - python3-montagepy - 6.1+dfsg-1+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: python3-montagepy from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Python toolkit for assembling FITS images into mosaics | http://montage.ipac.caltech.edu/ - Ubuntu apt - montage - 6.0+dfsg-9: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: montage from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Toolkit for assembling FITS images into mosaics | http://montage.ipac.caltech.edu/ - Ubuntu apt - montage-gridtools - 6.0+dfsg-9: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: montage-gridtools from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Create files to run montage on the grid | http://montage.ipac.caltech.edu/ - Ubuntu apt - python3-montagepy - 6.0+dfsg-9: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: python3-montagepy from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Python toolkit for assembling FITS images into mosaics | http://montage.ipac.caltech.edu/ - MacPorts - montage: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: science/montage/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## 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. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Media and graphics packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/media-graphics-tools/) - Matched media, image, audio, video, or graphics metadata. - [cfitsio](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cfitsio/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [freetype](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/freetype/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [jpeg-turbo](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/jpeg-turbo/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [wcstools](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/wcstools/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: astronomy, cli, fits, image-processing, science. - [ccfits](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ccfits/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: astronomy, cli, fits, science. - [gnuastro](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gnuastro/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: astronomy, cli, fits, science. - [siril](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/siril/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: astronomy, cli, image-processing, science. - [wcslib](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/wcslib/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: astronomy, cli, fits, science. - [calceph](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/calceph/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: astronomy, cli, science. - [cdsclient](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cdsclient/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: astronomy, cli, science. - [itk](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/itk/) - Both packages work with overlapping file formats or content types. Shared terms: cli, freetype, image, image-processing, jpeg. - [astrometry-net](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/astrometry-net/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: astronomy, cfitsio, cli, fits, images. - [opencv](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/opencv/) - Both packages work with overlapping file formats or content types. Shared terms: cli, freetype, image, image-processing, jpeg. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/montage.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/montage.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