Install uncrustify with Homebrew, apk, chocolatey, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• uncrustify

Project history

The public GitHub repository was created in October 2009 from an imported Subversion history, and the homepage notes that, as of release 0.54, the source code was maintained in Git. That migration matters historically because Uncrustify belongs to the older generation of standalone command-line formatters that predate the now-common language-server and editor-integrated formatter era.

Uncrustify's development has centered on breadth of formatting knobs rather than a single canonical style. The README says version 0.83.0 has 901 configurable options, and the upstream ChangeLog for 0.83.0 continues to add alignment, spacing, newline, and C++ syntax-related options. In package terms, that makes Uncrustify attractive where teams need a formatter that can imitate an existing house style instead of enforcing a new one.

Adoption history

The official homepage explicitly listed distribution packaging for Debian, Fedora, ALT Linux, T2, MacPorts, FreeBSD Ports, and OpenBSD Ports, and the supplied package facts show later availability across Homebrew, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora/DNF, Arch, MacPorts, Nix, Scoop, Chocolatey, Alpine, and openSUSE. That breadth reflects the tool's normal role as a packaged CLI dependency rather than an application users build manually.

The project also had a GUI-adjacent ecosystem: the official homepage links Universal Indent GUI as a cross-platform configuration editor for many beautifiers, including Uncrustify. That helped make its unusually large configuration surface usable for developers comparing or tuning formatter output.

How it is used

Uncrustify is normally used by passing a configuration file and one or more source files to the CLI. The README and homepage emphasize examples of a default configuration, before/after C examples, and the `--show-config` output, while the contributor notes describe testing formatter behavior with configuration/input/expected-output triples.

The README's debugging section shows typical formatter-maintainer usage: run Uncrustify with a config and source file, request parse/debug output, and inspect intermediate logs. This underlines that package users care about both the executable and the shipped examples/configuration reference.

Why package nerds care

For package maintainers, Uncrustify is a classic formatter formula: a single CLI, CMake-based builds, no credentials, and value that comes from reproducible formatting in build hooks, editor integrations, and CI checks. Its many packaging targets make it useful when a project wants the same formatter version across Linux, macOS, and Windows developer machines.

The main packaging caveat is behavioral compatibility. Because the project continually adds, removes, and renames configuration options, packages and downstream CI images often care about pinning versions so that a formatting job does not rewrite unrelated code after an upgrade.

Timeline

• 2009: GitHub repository created from an imported Subversion history.
• Release 0.54: Official homepage says source maintenance moved to Git.
• 2024-2026: ChangeLog entries show continued option-level formatter development.
• 2026: Version 0.83.0 documentation reports 901 configurable options.

Related projects

• Universal Indent GUI is linked by the official homepage as a configuration editor that supports Uncrustify.
• The README positions Uncrustify among source beautifiers for C-like languages, with examples centered on C-style formatting, Objective-C support, Java testing, and embedded SQL.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/uncrustify/uncrustify
• https://api.github.com/repos/uncrustify/uncrustify/git/commits/fe25b6d06401b0a523e15a896831720c488bd5ce
• https://github.com/uncrustify/uncrustify#readme
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/uncrustify/uncrustify/master/ChangeLog
• https://uncrustify.sourceforge.net/
• input.source_facts.package-manager