# 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 ```sh sudo av install brew:wv ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install wv ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install wv ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: textproc/wv/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add wv ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: wv from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install libwv-1.2-4t64 ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: libwv-1.2-4t64 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install wv ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: wv from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#wv ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/wv/wv/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S wv ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: wv from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install libwv-1_2-4 ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libwv-1_2-4 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:wv - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 1.2.9 - **Source summary:** Programs for accessing Microsoft Word documents - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** GPL-2.0-or-later - **Source archive:** - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - wvAbw (cli) - wvCleanLatex (cli) - wvConvert (cli) - wvDVI (cli) - wvDocBook (cli) - wvHtml (cli) - wvLatex (cli) - wvMime (cli) - wvPDF (cli) - wvPS (cli) - wvRTF (cli) - wvSummary (cli) - wvText (cli) - wvVersion (cli) - wvWare (cli) - wvWml (cli) - wvAbw (alias) - wvCleanLatex (alias) - wvConvert (alias) - wvDVI (alias) - wvDocBook (alias) - wvHtml (alias) - wvLatex (alias) - wvMime (alias) - wvPDF (alias) - wvPS (alias) - wvRTF (alias) - wvSummary (alias) - wvText (alias) - wvVersion (alias) - wvWare (alias) - wvWml (alias) ## Dependencies - gettext - glib - libgsf - libpng - libwmf ## Build dependencies - pkgconf ## Uses from macOS - libxml2 ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 1.2.9 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://wvware.sourceforge.net/ - info: No package-manager update timestamp was available. - info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories. ## 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 Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** wv - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 2 - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - libwv-1.2-4t64 - 1.2.9-8+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libwv-1.2-4t64 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Library for accessing Microsoft Word documents | http://www.abisource.com/projects/ - Debian apt - libwv-dev - 1.2.9-8+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libwv-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Development files for the wvWare library | http://www.abisource.com/projects/ - Debian apt - wv - 1.2.9-8+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: wv from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Programs for accessing Microsoft Word documents | http://www.abisource.com/projects/ - Nix - wv: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/wv/wv/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - libwv-1.2-4t64 - 1.2.9-8: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libwv-1.2-4t64 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Library for accessing Microsoft Word documents | http://www.abisource.com/projects/ - Ubuntu apt - libwv-dev - 1.2.9-8: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libwv-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Development files for the wvWare library | http://www.abisource.com/projects/ - Ubuntu apt - wv - 1.2.9-8: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: wv from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Programs for accessing Microsoft Word documents | http://www.abisource.com/projects/ - apk - wv - 1.2.9-r7: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: wv from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | A library that can load and parse Word 2000, 97, 95 and 6 file formats | https://sourceforge.net/projects/wvware/ - apk - wv-dev - 1.2.9-r7: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: wv-dev from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | A library that can load and parse Word 2000, 97, 95 and 6 file formats (development files) | https://sourceforge.net/projects/wvware/ - apk - wv-doc - 1.2.9-r7: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: wv-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | A library that can load and parse Word 2000, 97, 95 and 6 file formats (documentation) | https://sourceforge.net/projects/wvware/ - dnf - wv - 1.2.9-34.fc44: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: wv from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | MSWord 6/7/8/9 binary file format to HTML converter | http://www.abisource.com/downloads/wv/ - dnf - wv-devel - 1.2.9-34.fc44: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: wv-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | MSWord format converter - development files | http://www.abisource.com/downloads/wv/ - pacman - wv - 1.2.9-9: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: wv from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | MSWord library that can load and parse Word 2000, 97, 95 and 6 file formats | https://github.com/AbiWord/wv - zypper - libwv-1_2-4 - 1.2.9-4.6: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libwv-1_2-4 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Library for importing Microsoft Word documents | http://wvware.sourceforge.net/ - zypper - wv - 1.2.9-4.6: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: wv from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Tools for Importing Microsoft Word (tm) Documents | http://wvware.sourceforge.net/ - zypper - wv-devel - 1.2.9-4.6: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: wv-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Header files for wv | http://wvware.sourceforge.net/ ## Related links - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Text processing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/text-processing-tools/) - Matched text, document, or structured-data processing metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Productivity CLI packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/productivity-cli-packages/) - Matched curated productivity category metadata from av.db. - [gettext](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gettext/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [glib](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/glib/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [libgsf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libgsf/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [libpng](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libpng/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [libwmf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libwmf/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [pkgconf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pkgconf/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [wv2](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/wv2/) - Package name indicates the same formula family. - [libwpd](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libwpd/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, document-conversion, documents, productivity. - [diff-pdf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/diff-pdf/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, documents, productivity. - [doxx](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/doxx/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, documents, productivity. - [evernote2md](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/evernote2md/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, conversion, productivity. - [excalidraw-converter](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/excalidraw-converter/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, conversion, productivity. - [libpst](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libpst/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, conversion, productivity. - [libwpg](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libwpg/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, documents, productivity. - [libwps](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libwps/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, documents, productivity. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/wv.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/wv.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph