Automic VaultAutomic Vault

brew

Install wdiff with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Display word differences between text files. Version 1.2.2 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install wdiff

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install wdiff

MacPorts ports tree · textproc/wdiff/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install wdiff

Debian stable package indexes · wdiff · source: deb.debian.org

Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install wdiff

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · wdiff · source: dl.fedoraproject.org

Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#wdiff

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/wd/wdiff/package.nix · source: api.github.com

Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S wdiff

Arch Linux sync databases · wdiff · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com

openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install wdiff

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · wdiff · source: download.opensuse.org

overview

Package summary

Display word differences between text files

Commands and aliases

  • mdiff
  • unify
  • wdiff
  • wdiff2

history

Project history and usage

GNU wdiff is a word-oriented front end to diff. Instead of showing line-level changes, it tokenizes text into words, compares the temporary word-per-line forms with diff, and then reconstructs output that highlights word additions and deletions in the original text.

Its niche is prose and documentation review: it is useful when paragraphs have been reflowed or wrapped differently and a normal line diff would make a small wording change look like a large block replacement.

Project history

The GNU wdiff NEWS file records the first public release, version 0.00, in August 1992 by Francois Pinard. Pinard continued the early series through version 0.5 in November 1994, adding behavior such as case-insensitive comparison and standard-input handling.

In June 2007, Denver Gingerich released 0.5.4 and integrated changes from Pinard's 0.5g work from November 1998, including internationalized program messages and short manual pages for related tools. Martin von Gagern then revived the package with version 0.6.0 in March 2010, described by GNU as the first official release in a long time, and moved development from CVS to Bazaar.

The package reached version 1.0.0 in September 2011, with the version bump explicitly marking maturity. Later releases improved translations, Unicode and pager behavior, gnulib integration, and build-system maintenance. GNU lists version 1.2.2 from April 2014 as a release by Martin von Gagern and names him as the current maintainer on the project page.

How it is used

The basic command compares an old file and a new file and prints an annotated copy of the new file. The default markers can be replaced with custom strings, terminal highlighting, less-compatible highlighting, LaTeX or troff markup, or ANSI color sequences.

wdiff can also consume a unified diff with the -d option, which makes it a post-processor for version-control output. Its companion tools include mdiff for multi-difference or cluster-oriented comparison, unify for converting context diffs and unified diffs, and wdiff2 as an experimental successor using mdiff as its backend.

Why package nerds care

wdiff is one of the small GNU text-processing tools that fills a gap left by line-based diff. It is not a version-control system feature or a rich review UI; it is a composable filter that can be piped into pagers, formatters, sed scripts, or documentation workflows.

For package-history purposes, it is also a neat example of GNU maintenance continuity: an early-1990s utility by Francois Pinard, revived and modernized in the 2010s with gnulib, gettext, autotools, translation updates, and Bazaar-hosted development.

Timeline

  • 1992-08: wdiff 0.00 is released by Francois Pinard.
  • 1994-11: wdiff 0.5 is released, still in the Pinard-led early series.
  • 2007-06: wdiff 0.5.4 integrates older 0.5g-era work and adds packaging/documentation improvements.
  • 2010-03: wdiff 0.6.0 becomes the first official release in a long time and switches source control from CVS to Bazaar.
  • 2011-09: wdiff 1.0.0 is released to reflect package maturity.
  • 2014-04: wdiff 1.2.2 updates translations, gnulib, and autotools.

Related projects

  • wdiff builds on GNU diffutils diff and is distributed in the GNU ecosystem alongside tools such as gettext, gnulib, and other command-line text processors. Its own manual also documents mdiff, unify, and wdiff2.

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.
  • Installs with 1 runtime dependencies.
  • Build metadata lists 1 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

CommandKindExposureNote
mdiffcliglobal executable
unifycliglobal executable
wdiffcliglobal executable
wdiff2cliglobal 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 version1.2.2
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected

https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/

  • infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
  • infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/none confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:wdiff
Version1.2.2
Package managerHomebrew
Package manager pagehttps://formulae.brew.sh/formula/wdiff
Homepagehttps://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/
Repositoryhttp://bzr.savannah.gnu.org/r/wdiff/trunk
Upstream docshttps://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff
LicenseGPL-3.0-or-later
Source archivehttps://ftpmirror.gnu.org/gnu/wdiff/wdiff-1.2.2.tar.gz
Dependenciesgettext
Build dependenciestexinfo
Uses from macOSncurses
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 Namewdiff
Version Scheme0
Revision2
Conflicts With
  • montage
Bottle Stable Root URLhttps://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecatedno
Disabledno
Keg Onlyno
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.

Debian apt95%

wdiff 1.2.2-9

Compares two files word by word

https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/

sudo apt install wdiff
  • Section: text
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 2 dependencies
  • 1 optional deps
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Wdiff
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: wdiff from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Debian apt95%

wdiff-doc 1.2.2-9

Documentation for GNU wdiff

https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/

sudo apt install wdiff-doc
  • Section: doc
  • Architecture: all
  • Source Package: wdiff
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Wdiff
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: wdiff-doc from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Nix95%

wdiff

nix profile install nixpkgs#wdiff
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Wdiff
nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/wd/wdiff/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
Ubuntu apt95%

wdiff 1.2.2-6build1

Compares two files word by word

https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/

sudo apt install wdiff
  • Section: text
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 2 dependencies
  • 1 optional deps
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Wdiff
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: wdiff from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
Ubuntu apt95%

wdiff-doc 1.2.2-6build1

Documentation for GNU wdiff

https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/

sudo apt install wdiff-doc
  • Section: doc
  • Architecture: all
  • Source Package: wdiff
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Wdiff
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: wdiff-doc from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
dnf95%

wdiff 1.2.2-58.fc45

Compare files on a word per word basis

https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/

sudo dnf install wdiff
  • License: GPL-3.0-or-later AND Latex2e
  • Category: Unspecified
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: wdiff
  • 3 dependencies
  • 2 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Wdiff
Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: wdiff from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst
pacman95%

wdiff 1.2.2-5

A wordwise implementation of GNU diff

https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/

sudo pacman -S wdiff
  • License: GPL3
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • 1 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Wdiff
Arch Linux sync databases · geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com · Arch Linux sync databases: wdiff from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz
zypper95%

wdiff 1.2.2-9.5

Display Word Differences Between Text Files

https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/

sudo zypper install wdiff
  • License: GPL-3.0-or-later
  • Category: Productivity/Text/Utilities
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: wdiff
  • 3 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Wdiff
openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: wdiff from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst
zypper95%

wdiff-lang 1.2.2-9.5

Translations for package wdiff

https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/

sudo zypper install wdiff-lang
  • License: GPL-3.0-or-later
  • Category: System/Localization
  • Architecture: noarch
  • Source Package: wdiff
  • 1 dependencies
  • 3 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Wdiff
openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: wdiff-lang from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst
MacPorts95%

wdiff

sudo port install wdiff
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Wdiff
MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: textproc/wdiff/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1
Nix92%

unify

nix profile install nixpkgs#unify
  • installed executable or alias match
  • Matched by: Unify
nixpkgs package indexes · raw.githubusercontent.com · nixpkgs package indexes: unify from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/master/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix

package graph

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

Related tools

  • gettextRuntime dependency declared by Homebrew.
  • texinfoBuild dependency declared by Homebrew.
  • pkgdiffPopular package that depends on this formula.

Same workflow

  • enscriptShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, gnu, text-processing.
  • gawkShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, gnu, text-processing.
  • grepShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, gnu, 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.
  • cconvShares 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
  • external package-manager database matches
  • package relationship graph
  • package version freshness
  • package-page enrichment