Install woof-doom with Homebrew, apt, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• woof-setup

Project history

The README places Woof! in a very specific Doom genealogy. Boom came from TeamTNT; MBF followed as Lee Killough's DOS source port; WinMBF brought MBF to Windows in 2004 through Team Eternity; Woof! then started from the WinMBF code to make MBF widely available and convenient on modern systems.

Greffrath writes that MBF was important to him because it taught techniques later used in his own Crispy Doom work, and that his frustration with WinMBF's 32-bit limitations and outdated SDL 1 usage led to Woof!'s creation. The public GitHub repository was created on 2016-08-19, giving the project a visible development base before its later wave of releases and packaging.

Woof! is not a strict preservation port. Its stated goal is to fast-forward `MBF.EXE` from DOS to the 21st century while keeping changes in line with the original author's intentions. That explains its blend of conservative compatibility levels and early adoption of new mapping and modding specifications.

Adoption history

Woof! occupies an important niche among Doom ports: less maximalist than GZDoom, more modern and convenience-oriented than Chocolate Doom, and more directly focused on the Boom/MBF bloodline than many general-purpose ports. The README explicitly names PrBoom+, DSDA-Doom, Eternity Engine, Chocolate Doom, Crispy Doom, and WinMBF as related sources, inspirations, or lineage points.

Its adoption is visible in modern Doom mod compatibility. The default MBF21 compatibility level and support for UMAPINFO, DEHEXTRA, DSDHacked, extended nodes, UDMF in the Doom namespace, PNG graphics, and modern input features make it attractive to players and mappers who want classic-style rendering with current community standards.

How it is used

Players use Woof! by launching the `woof` executable with Doom IWADs and optional PWADs or command-line parameters, while `woof-setup` provides configuration. The README links to getting-started, cheat-code, and command-line-parameter documentation and points users to releases for source code, Windows binaries, and Linux AppImages.

In package-manager contexts, Woof! is typically installed as a ready-to-run source port for users who already own Doom data files or use compatible free IWADs. It is also a useful reference package for mod authors testing MBF, Boom, and MBF21 behavior.

Why package nerds care

Woof! is significant because Doom source ports are a living compatibility matrix. Packaging Woof! gives users a curated point in that matrix: modern SDL-era convenience and new modding specs, but with a conservative Boom/MBF-centered identity.

The port also shows how old game-engine code becomes a software preservation ecosystem. It bundles decades of inherited id Software, Boom, MBF, WinMBF, Chocolate Doom, and community source-port work into an actively maintained executable.

Timeline

• 1990s: Boom and MBF establish the compatibility lineage later continued by Woof!.
• 2004: Team Eternity ports MBF to Windows as WinMBF, the code base Woof! later uses.
• 2016-08-19: The public Woof! GitHub repository is created.
• 2020s: Woof! develops as a modern MBF continuation with MBF21, UMAPINFO, DEHEXTRA, DSDHacked, and quality-of-life features.
• 2025-11-04: GitHub latest-release metadata records Woof! 15.3.0, showing continuing release activity.

Related projects

• MBF and WinMBF are the direct historical code lineage.
• Boom is the earlier compatibility baseline inherited by MBF.
• Chocolate Doom, Crispy Doom, PrBoom+, DSDA-Doom, and Eternity Engine are related source ports explicitly named by the Woof! README.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/fabiangreffrath/woof
• https://api.github.com/repos/fabiangreffrath/woof/releases/latest
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fabiangreffrath/woof/master/README.md