macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install openslidelocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install openslideMacPorts ports tree · graphics/openslide/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew
Install openslide with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper
C library to read whole-slide images (a.k.a. virtual slides). Version 4.0.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-08.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install libopenslide-devDebian stable package indexes · libopenslide-dev · source: deb.debian.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install openslideFedora Rawhide package metadata · openslide · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#openslidenixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/op/openslide/package.nix · source: api.github.com
Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S openslideArch Linux sync databases · openslide · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install libopenslide-developenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · libopenslide-devel · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
C library to read whole-slide images (a.k.a. virtual slides)
Project links
Commands and aliases
- openslide-quickhash1sum
- openslide-show-properties
- openslide-write-png
- slidetool
history
Project history and usage
OpenSlide is an LGPL C library and small CLI toolkit for reading whole-slide images, also called virtual slides. It abstracts scanner/vendor file formats into a simple tiled image API for digital pathology, computational pathology, and microscopy workflows.
Project history
The OpenSlide GitHub repository was created in August 2010. A 2013 Journal of Pathology Informatics paper presented OpenSlide as a vendor-neutral C library for reading and manipulating digital slides from diverse vendor formats, motivated by the lack of a universal widespread format for whole-slide images.
The project grew into a small ecosystem with official Python and Java bindings. The website describes the C library, bindings, command-line tools, supported vendor formats, and LGPL-2.1 licensing, while the Python documentation explains why ordinary image libraries struggle with slides that can expand to tens of gigabytes.
Adoption history
OpenSlide became a common interoperability layer for open source digital pathology software because it hides vendor-specific storage details behind one API. Its support matrix includes Aperio, DICOM, Hamamatsu, Leica, MIRAX, Philips, Sakura, Ventana, Zeiss, generic tiled TIFF, and other formats documented by the project.
The library is packaged widely across Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Nix, MacPorts, and other distributions. That distribution breadth matters for scientific workflows, where Python packages, notebooks, image pipelines, and lab workstations often need the same native C library available underneath language bindings.
How it is used
Applications use OpenSlide to query slide dimensions and metadata, choose pyramid levels, read rectangular regions, generate thumbnails or Deep Zoom tiles, and avoid loading an entire slide into memory. The command-line tools expose common inspection and conversion tasks such as showing slide properties, writing PNG regions, and calculating quickhash values.
The API is intentionally narrow: it opens a slide, exposes properties and level information, and reads image regions. That simplicity is what lets higher-level packages in Python, Java, MATLAB integrations, and web viewers build digital pathology workflows over proprietary vendor data.
Why package nerds care
OpenSlide is package-significant because it is a native library that many language packages quietly depend on. The Homebrew formula is not just an executable install; it supplies the C ABI that Python wheels, scientific applications, and downstream pathology tools expect to find.
It also illustrates why packaging scientific file-format libraries is hard: the value is not a flashy CLI but stable decoding of many large, vendor-specific, tiled image formats across operating systems.
Timeline
- 2010-08-09: The public GitHub repository was created.
- 2013-09-27: The OpenSlide design and implementation paper was published in Journal of Pathology Informatics.
- OpenSlide 3.x: The C API exposed standardized properties such as vendor, quickhash, microns-per-pixel, and objective power across supported formats.
- OpenSlide 4.x: The project continued publishing C library releases along with Python and Java bindings.
Related projects
- Related projects include OpenSlide Python, OpenSlide Java, Deep Zoom viewers, digital pathology analysis pipelines, DICOM whole-slide imaging work, Bio-Formats-style microscopy tooling, and downstream packages that bind to the native OpenSlide C library.
Sources
- https://api.github.com/repos/openslide/openslide
- https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/openslide
- https://github.com/openslide/openslide
- https://openslide.org/
- https://openslide.org/api/openslide_8h.html
- https://openslide.org/api/python/
- https://openslide.org/docs/newformat/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3815078/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24244884/
security posture
Risk level: blue
broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.
Risk classifier
blue risk · medium confidence · tool
Why
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal
Signals
- text:image
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
- Installs with 11 runtime dependencies.
- Build metadata lists 3 build dependencies.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
openslide-quickhash1sum | cli | global executable | |
openslide-show-properties | cli | global executable | |
openslide-write-png | cli | global executable | |
slidetool | 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 version4.0.1
manager updated2026-06-08
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
https://github.com/openslide/openslide
- infoNo cached GitHub release or tag data was available.https://github.com/openslide/openslidenone confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:openslide |
|---|---|
| Version | 4.0.1 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/openslide |
| Homepage | https://openslide.org/ |
| Repository | https://github.com/openslide/openslide |
| Upstream docs | https://openslide.org/docs |
| License | LGPL-2.1-only |
| Source archive | https://github.com/openslide/openslide/releases/download/v4.0.1/openslide-4.0.1.tar.xz |
| Last updated | 2026-06-08T11:02:48Z |
| Pulse | updated |
| Dependencies | cairo, gettext, glib, jpeg-turbo, libdicom, libpng, libtiff, libxml2, openjpeg, sqlite, zstd |
| Build dependencies | meson, ninja, pkgconf |
| 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 | openslide |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 0 |
| 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%
libopenslide-dev 3.4.1+dfsg-7+b2
Development files for the OpenSlide library
sudo apt install libopenslide-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: openslide
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
Debian apt95%
libopenslide0 3.4.1+dfsg-7+b2
library for reading whole slide image files
sudo apt install libopenslide0- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: openslide
- 11 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
Debian apt95%
openslide-tools 3.4.1+dfsg-7+b2
Manipulation and conversion tools for OpenSlide
sudo apt install openslide-tools- Section: graphics
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: openslide
- 4 dependencies
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
Nix95%
openslide
nix profile install nixpkgs#openslide- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
Ubuntu apt95%
libopenslide-dev 3.4.1+dfsg-7build2
Development files for the OpenSlide library
sudo apt install libopenslide-dev- Section: universe/libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: openslide
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
Ubuntu apt95%
libopenslide0 3.4.1+dfsg-7build2
library for reading whole slide image files
sudo apt install libopenslide0- Section: universe/libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: openslide
- 11 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
Ubuntu apt95%
openslide-tools 3.4.1+dfsg-7build2
Manipulation and conversion tools for OpenSlide
sudo apt install openslide-tools- Section: universe/graphics
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: openslide
- 4 dependencies
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
dnf95%
openslide 4.0.1-1.fc45
C library for reading virtual slides
sudo dnf install openslide- License: LGPL-2.1-only
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: openslide
- 17 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
dnf95%
openslide-devel 4.0.1-1.fc45
Development files for openslide
sudo dnf install openslide-devel- License: LGPL-2.1-only AND MIT
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: openslide
- 4 dependencies
- 3 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
dnf95%
openslide-tools 4.0.1-1.fc45
Command line tools for openslide
sudo dnf install openslide-tools- License: LGPL-2.1-only
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: openslide
- 7 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
pacman95%
openslide 4.0.1-1
C library for reading virtual slide images
sudo pacman -S openslide- License: LGPL-2.1-only
- Architecture: x86_64
- 13 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
zypper95%
libopenslide-devel 3.4.1-2.31
Development files for openslide
sudo zypper install libopenslide-devel- License: LGPL-2.1-only
- Category: Development/Libraries/C and C++
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: openslide
- 2 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
zypper95%
libopenslide0 3.4.1-2.31
C library for reading virtual slides
sudo zypper install libopenslide0- License: LGPL-2.1-only
- Category: System/Libraries
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: openslide
- 15 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
zypper95%
openslide-doc 3.4.1-2.31
Documentation for openslide
sudo zypper install openslide-doc- License: LGPL-2.1-only
- Category: Documentation/Other
- Architecture: noarch
- Source Package: openslide
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
zypper95%
openslide-tools 3.4.1-2.31
Command line tools for openslide
sudo zypper install openslide-tools- License: LGPL-2.1-only
- Category: Productivity/Graphics/Other
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: openslide
- 5 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
MacPorts95%
openslide
sudo port install openslide- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Openslide
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