macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install wvlocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install wvMacPorts ports tree · textproc/wv/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew
Install wv with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper
Programs for accessing Microsoft Word documents. Version 1.2.9 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add wvAlpine Linux edge package indexes · wv · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install libwv-1.2-4t64Debian stable package indexes · libwv-1.2-4t64 · source: deb.debian.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install wvFedora Rawhide package metadata · wv · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#wvnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/wv/wv/package.nix · source: api.github.com
Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S wvArch Linux sync databases · wv · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install libwv-1_2-4openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · libwv-1_2-4 · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
Programs for accessing Microsoft Word documents
Project links
Commands and aliases
- wvAbw
- wvCleanLatex
- wvConvert
- wvDVI
- wvDocBook
- wvHtml
- wvLatex
- wvMime
- wvPDF
- wvPS
- wvRTF
- wvSummary
- wvText
- wvVersion
- wvWare
- wvWml
history
Project history and usage
wv, also known as wvWare and formerly mswordview, is a GPL library and set of command-line utilities for reading and converting legacy Microsoft Word binary documents. Its official homepage says it can load and parse Word 2000, 97, 95, and 6 formats, with limited support for earlier Word 2 documents.
Project history
The project began as `mswordview`, but the official homepage says that name was uncomfortably close to Microsoft's Word Viewer product, so the library was renamed to wv. Its focus was interoperability with the OLE2-wrapped binary Word formats used before the newer XML-based Office formats became dominant.
wv became part of the free-software office stack around AbiWord. The homepage says wv is used by AbiWord as its Word importer and that KWord developers used concepts and pieces of its code. The SourceForge project summary describes wvWare as the continuation of Caolan McNamara's wv MSWord library, with efforts to improve correctness, robustness, and Word97 export.
Adoption history
wv spread widely because opening old `.doc` files was a practical need on Unix-like systems. The homepage lists Linux as the main development platform but also mentions BSD, Solaris, OS/2, AIX, OSF/1, and other ports, while GnuWin32 maintained a Windows port. Later, the site itself advised users to prefer AbiWord for many conversion tasks while keeping the wv library as useful document-import infrastructure.
How it is used
The package includes tools such as `wvHtml`, `wvLatex`, `wvText`, `wvPDF`, `wvPS`, `wvAbw`, `wvWml`, and `wvSummary`. Typical package-nerd usage is batch conversion or metadata extraction from old Word binary documents, especially in scripts, mail or browser helper contexts, or archival workflows where a GUI word processor is too heavy.
Why package nerds care
wv is historically important because it represents the gritty document-interoperability work that made proprietary binary formats usable from free Unix systems. It matters less as a modern daily document converter and more as a bridge between old Microsoft Word files, command-line conversion pipelines, AbiWord, and archival/package ecosystems that still need to process legacy `.doc` content.
Timeline
- Pre-2000s: The project is known as mswordview before being renamed to wv.
- 2005-10-13: wv 1.2.0 is released, switching to libgsf, libxml2, and glib according to the official news notes.
- 2006-03: wv 1.2.1 is released as a minor bugfix release.
- 2010s onward: The upstream site documents the command-line utilities as mostly deprecated in favor of AbiWord, while the wv library remains useful as document-import infrastructure.
Related projects
- wv is closely related to AbiWord, which used it as a Word importer, and to KWord, whose developers reused concepts and code. It also sits in the same historical niche as Antiword and other command-line tools for extracting text or converting legacy Microsoft Word documents.
Sources
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 6 platform targets.
- Installs with 5 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
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
wvAbw | cli | global executable | |
wvCleanLatex | cli | global executable | |
wvConvert | cli | global executable | |
wvDVI | cli | global executable | |
wvDocBook | cli | global executable | |
wvHtml | cli | global executable | |
wvLatex | cli | global executable | |
wvMime | cli | global executable | |
wvPDF | cli | global executable | |
wvPS | cli | global executable | |
wvRTF | cli | global executable | |
wvSummary | cli | global executable | |
wvText | cli | global executable | |
wvVersion | cli | global executable | |
wvWare | cli | global executable | |
wvWml | 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 version1.2.9
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
https://wvware.sourceforge.net/
- infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
- infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://wvware.sourceforge.net/none confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:wv |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.2.9 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/wv |
| Homepage | https://wvware.sourceforge.net/ |
| Repository | https://sourceforge.net/p/wvware/cvs |
| Upstream docs | https://wvware.sourceforge.net/ |
| License | GPL-2.0-or-later |
| Source archive | https://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/w/wv/wv_1.2.9.orig.tar.gz |
| Dependencies | gettext, glib, libgsf, libpng, libwmf |
| Build dependencies | pkgconf |
| Uses from macOS | libxml2 |
| 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 | wv |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 2 |
| 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%
libwv-1.2-4t64 1.2.9-8+b1
Library for accessing Microsoft Word documents
http://www.abisource.com/projects/
sudo apt install libwv-1.2-4t64- Section: libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wv
- 5 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
Debian apt95%
libwv-dev 1.2.9-8+b1
Development files for the wvWare library
http://www.abisource.com/projects/
sudo apt install libwv-dev- Section: libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wv
- 7 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
Debian apt95%
wv 1.2.9-8+b1
Programs for accessing Microsoft Word documents
http://www.abisource.com/projects/
sudo apt install wv- Section: text
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wv
- 4 dependencies
- 8 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
Nix95%
wv
nix profile install nixpkgs#wv- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
Ubuntu apt95%
libwv-1.2-4t64 1.2.9-8
Library for accessing Microsoft Word documents
http://www.abisource.com/projects/
sudo apt install libwv-1.2-4t64- Section: universe/libs
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wv
- 5 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
Ubuntu apt95%
libwv-dev 1.2.9-8
Development files for the wvWare library
http://www.abisource.com/projects/
sudo apt install libwv-dev- Section: universe/libdevel
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: wv
- 7 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
Ubuntu apt95%
wv 1.2.9-8
Programs for accessing Microsoft Word documents
http://www.abisource.com/projects/
sudo apt install wv- Section: universe/text
- Architecture: amd64
- 4 dependencies
- 8 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
apk95%
wv 1.2.9-r7
A library that can load and parse Word 2000, 97, 95 and 6 file formats
https://sourceforge.net/projects/wvware/
sudo apk add wv- License: GPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wv
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
apk95%
wv-dev 1.2.9-r7
A library that can load and parse Word 2000, 97, 95 and 6 file formats (development files)
https://sourceforge.net/projects/wvware/
sudo apk add wv-dev- License: GPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wv
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
apk95%
wv-doc 1.2.9-r7
A library that can load and parse Word 2000, 97, 95 and 6 file formats (documentation)
https://sourceforge.net/projects/wvware/
sudo apk add wv-doc- License: GPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wv
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
dnf95%
wv 1.2.9-34.fc44
MSWord 6/7/8/9 binary file format to HTML converter
http://www.abisource.com/downloads/wv/
sudo dnf install wv- License: GPL-2.0-or-later
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: wv
- 10 dependencies
- 3 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
dnf95%
wv-devel 1.2.9-34.fc44
MSWord format converter - development files
http://www.abisource.com/downloads/wv/
sudo dnf install wv-devel- License: GPL-2.0-or-later
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: wv
- 4 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
pacman95%
wv 1.2.9-9
MSWord library that can load and parse Word 2000, 97, 95 and 6 file formats
sudo pacman -S wv- License: GPL-2.0-or-later
- Architecture: x86_64
- 6 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
zypper95%
libwv-1_2-4 1.2.9-4.6
Library for importing Microsoft Word documents
http://wvware.sourceforge.net/
sudo zypper install libwv-1_2-4- License: GPL-2.0-or-later
- Category: System/Libraries
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wv
- 7 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
zypper95%
wv 1.2.9-4.6
Tools for Importing Microsoft Word (tm) Documents
http://wvware.sourceforge.net/
sudo zypper install wv- License: GPL-2.0-or-later
- Category: Productivity/Publishing/Word
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wv
- 9 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
zypper95%
wv-devel 1.2.9-4.6
Header files for wv
http://wvware.sourceforge.net/
sudo zypper install wv-devel- License: GPL-2.0-or-later
- Category: Development/Libraries/C and C++
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wv
- 5 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wv
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