install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install opendetex

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%

sudo port install opendetex

MacPorts ports tree · tex/opendetex/Portfile · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

Tool to strip TeX or LaTeX commands from documents

Project links

Commands and aliases

delatex

history

Project history and usage

OpenDetex is the maintained successor line of DeTeX, a utility that strips TeX and LaTeX markup from source documents to produce readable plain text. It preserves the old tool's package-nerd charm: a focused lexer-style command-line program with decades of TeX workflow inertia behind it.

Project history

Daniel Trinkle's DeTeX originated at Purdue University and was distributed from his personal academic page. Trinkle's page points users to OpenDetex as the more modern derivative, and CTAN marks the original `detex` package as retired in favor of Piotr Kubowicz's OpenDetex.

Adoption history

OpenDetex's adoption is mostly through TeX and Unix packaging channels rather than a large application ecosystem. It appears in Homebrew and MacPorts as `opendetex`, while manual pages in Linux distributions preserve the authorship chain from Trinkle's original program to Kubowicz's maintenance.

How it is used

Users run the command-line program over TeX or LaTeX sources when they need approximate plain text for indexing, spell checking, word counting, or review workflows. The tool intentionally removes commands rather than trying to typeset or fully understand a TeX document.

Why package nerds care

OpenDetex matters because it is a tiny maintenance fork that kept a useful academic Unix utility alive after the original author retired it. Its packaging story is the familiar one for old document-processing tools: the interface remains small, but users value it because it fits cleanly into shell pipelines.

Timeline

2004: Daniel Trinkle's DeTeX page was last modified and later directed users to OpenDetex.
OpenDetex was created from DeTeX 2.8 by Piotr Kubowicz, according to the project README.

Related projects

OpenDetex is directly descended from DeTeX and sits near other TeX-adjacent text extraction tools, but it keeps the narrower goal of removing TeX constructs instead of converting documents through a full typesetting or markup conversion pipeline.

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 10 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
`delatex`	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 version2.8.11

manager updated

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://github.com/pkubowicz/opendetex

infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
infoNo cached GitHub release or tag data was available.https://github.com/pkubowicz/opendetexnone confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:opendetex
Version	2.8.11
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/opendetex
Homepage	https://github.com/pkubowicz/opendetex
Repository	https://github.com/pkubowicz/opendetex
Upstream docs	https://github.com/pkubowicz/opendetex#readme
License	BSD-3-Clause
Source archive	https://github.com/pkubowicz/opendetex/releases/download/v2.8.11/opendetex-2.8.11.tar.bz2
Bottle	available (on arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, 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	opendetex
Version Scheme	0
Revision	0
Conflicts With	texlive
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.

MacPorts95%

opendetex

sudo port install opendetex

normalized package name match
Matched by: Opendetex

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

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

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/opendetex.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 opendetex with Homebrew, MacPorts