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brew

Install tal with Homebrew

Align line endings if they match. Version 1.9 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install tal

local Homebrew formula metadata

overview

Package summary

Align line endings if they match

Commands and aliases

  • tal

history

Project history and usage

tal is the Trailer Alignment Filter, a small C command-line filter by Thomas Jensen. Its official page says it reads lines from standard input, detects common trailing characters, and aligns those trailers so they begin and end on the same text columns.

Project history

The official tal page was created on 1997-05-04 and last updated on 1999-06-17 for version 1.9. It distributes source archives, DOS and Win32 ports, and documents Unix builds for systems including AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Linux, OSF/1, SunOS 4, and SunOS 5.

tal belongs to the late-1990s Unix filter tradition: one small program, standard input to standard output, a man page, and editor integration through shell filters. The page explicitly calls out Vim visual-mode mappings for running selected lines through `tal`.

Adoption history

Official sources do not show broad mainstream adoption, but they do show portability work and user requests around formatting tables and more complex trailer selection. Homebrew packaging preserves the tool for modern macOS users despite its older upstream page.

How it is used

Typical usage is to align closing comment tags, backslashes in C macro definitions, dots in index-like text, or status markers in a to-do list. The examples page demonstrates options for padding, target columns, case-insensitive matching, maximum line length, and trailer length.

Why package nerds care

Package nerds care about tal as a tiny, durable Unix text filter: public-domain style licensing, basic C portability, editor-friendly behavior, and a feature set narrow enough to remain useful decades later. It is the sort of small tool package managers keep alive because it composes well with editors and pipelines.

Timeline

  • 1997-05-04: Official tal page created.
  • 1997-11-30: Examples page created.
  • 1999-05-25: Examples page last updated.
  • 1999-06-17: Main page last updated for tal 1.9.

Related projects

  • The official page points to Vim as a natural editor integration and to boxes, Thomas Jensen's related box-drawing filter.

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 13 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

CommandKindExposureNote
talcliglobal 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 version1.9
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected

https://thomasjensen.com/software/tal/

  • infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
  • infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://thomasjensen.com/software/tal/none confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:tal
Version1.9
Package managerHomebrew
Package manager pagehttps://formulae.brew.sh/formula/tal
Homepagehttps://thomasjensen.com/software/tal/
Upstream docshttps://thomasjensen.com/software/tal
LicenseLicenseRef-Homebrew-public-domain
Source archivehttps://thomasjensen.com/software/tal/tal-1.9.tar.gz
Bottleavailable (on arm64_big_sur, arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, big_sur, catalina, monterey, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-installnot defined
Servicenone declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source DatabaseHomebrew formula API
Taphomebrew/core
Full Nametal
Version Scheme0
Revision0
Bottle Stable Root URLhttps://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecatedno
Disabledno
Keg Onlyno
URL Keys
  • stable

package graph

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

Same workflow

  • dos2unixShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, line-endings, text-processing.
  • libchardetShares av.db curated category or tags: c, cli, developer-tools, text-processing.
  • smartypantsShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, text-filter, text-processing.
  • tofrodosShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, line-endings, text-processing.
  • alignShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, text-processing.
  • bsdconvShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, text-processing.

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.

Used sources

  • Geiger risk classifier
  • Nucleus package database
  • av.db category and tag curation
  • cross-ecosystem install command graph
  • curated package history
  • package relationship graph
  • package version freshness
  • package-page enrichment