Install nvi with Homebrew, apt, MacPorts, Nix, dnf

Project links

• Homepage
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• nex
• nvi
• nview

Project history

The nvi source describes the editor as a reimplementation of the ex/vi editors from 4BSD. Keith Bostic's Berkeley Vi page says the source is freely available and redistributable, and lists features that distinguished nvi from old vi, including multiple edit buffers, command-line editing, path completion, tag stacks with cscope support, extended regular expressions, infinite undo, horizontal scrolling, message catalogs, and early Perl/Tcl scripting support.

The repo.or.cz README records the deeper lineage: nvi was originally derived from Steve Kirkendall's elvis vi clone, uses Henry Spencer's POSIX-style regular expression code, and retains acknowledgements to Bill Joy and Mark Horton from original vi. The maintained repo also shows ongoing maintenance by Sven Verdoolaege.

Adoption history

nvi's adoption is mostly Unix/BSD preservation rather than hype-cycle growth. It appears in Homebrew, Debian, MacPorts, Nix, and related package sets as the classic 44BSD vi reimplementation, while Homebrew's formula distributes version 1.81.6 as bottled packages for macOS and Linux.

Homebrew marks the formula deprecated. That does not erase nvi's historical role, but it does show the Homebrew package has become a legacy editor package rather than an actively expanding developer-tool ecosystem.

How it is used

Users run nvi directly as `nvi`, `nex`, or `nview` for vi, ex, and read-only view workflows. Package nerds pick it for low-dependency POSIX-ish editing, scripts or muscle memory built around vi/ex behavior, and systems where Vim or Neovim would be more editor than needed.

The practical distinction is that nvi aims to preserve ex/vi semantics while adding careful terminal-era quality-of-life features. It is a good fit for editing config files, working over remote shells, and testing vi-compatible behavior.

Why package nerds care

nvi is significant because it carries the Berkeley vi branch into modern package managers. It is not the most popular vi implementation, but it is one of the reference points for what 'real vi' means on BSD-like systems.

Its package story is also a reminder that some important packages are maintained as infrastructure memory: small install counts, old code, and still useful when compatibility matters.

Timeline

• 4BSD era: ex/vi originated in the Berkeley Software Distribution lineage.
• 1990s: nvi became the freely redistributable Berkeley vi reimplementation associated with Keith Bostic.
• 2001-04-30: the repo.or.cz README revision identifies the tree as nvi 1.80-era source.
• 2000s: repo.or.cz tags record the 1.81.x line, including nvi-1.81.6.

Related projects

• elvis is the vi clone from which the nvi README says the project was originally derived.
• Vim and Neovim are larger vi-family editors with much broader plugin ecosystems.
• nvi2 is a multibyte-oriented fork of nvi.

Sources

• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/nvi
• https://repo.or.cz/nvi.git
• https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/the-berkeley-vi-editor-home-page
• https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/the-berkeley-vi-editor-home-page/nvi-faq