macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install wxwidgetslocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew
Install wxwidgets with Homebrew, apk, dnf, pacman, zypper
Cross-platform C++ GUI toolkit. Version 3.3.3 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-08.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add wxwidgetsAlpine Linux edge package indexes · wxwidgets · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install wxGTKFedora Rawhide package metadata · wxGTK · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S wxwidgets-qt5Arch Linux sync databases · wxwidgets-qt5 · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install libwx_baseu-suse-nostl16_0_0openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · libwx_baseu-suse-nostl16_0_0 · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
Cross-platform C++ GUI toolkit
Project links
Commands and aliases
- wx-config
- wx-config-3.3
- wxrc
- wxrc-3.3
history
Project history and usage
wxWidgets is a long-running, cross-platform C++ GUI toolkit whose package-manager importance comes from its role as a native-widget portability layer for desktop applications. The project began in 1992 as wxWindows and later adopted the wxWidgets name, while keeping the central idea that one C++ codebase can target Windows, Unix/Linux, macOS, and other platforms through native or platform-specific ports.
Project history
The official wxWidgets history traces the project to Julian Smart at the Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute, University of Edinburgh, in 1992. Smart was building Hardy, a meta-CASE tool that needed to run on Windows and X-based Unix workstations; commercial cross-platform GUI tools were too expensive for the in-house experimental project, so the toolkit was created as wxWindows.
The project's name changed from wxWindows to wxWidgets in 2004 after an agreement involving Microsoft's Windows trademark. The official name-change page says Julian Smart and Robin Dunn would stop using the wxWindows name by August 2004, with the new wxwidgets.org domain becoming the project's public identity.
wxWidgets developed as a community-maintained toolkit rather than a single-vendor product. The official overview describes hundreds of contributors and a user base ranging from open-source developers to corporations, while the team page identifies maintainers around major ports and related projects such as wxGTK, wxMac, wxiOS, and wxPython.
Adoption history
wxWidgets has been adopted where native desktop look-and-feel and C++ portability matter more than a web-style UI stack. The official overview lists organizations and applications associated with wxWidgets, including AOL, AMD, Lockheed Martin, Xerox, NASA, Audacity, FileZilla, and TortoiseCVS.
The license helped adoption across both free-software and proprietary contexts. The wxWidgets license page describes the wxWindows Library Licence as LGPL-like with an exception allowing derived binary works to be distributed on the user's own terms, a compromise intended to satisfy GPL and proprietary application authors.
How it is used
Developers use wxWidgets as a library and toolchain component for native GUI applications, usually compiling against a platform port such as wxMSW, wxGTK, or wxMac. In package-manager contexts, the notable command-line surfaces are helper tools such as wx-config, which reports compiler and linker flags, and wxrc, which compiles XRC resource files.
In C and C++ packaging, wxWidgets is the kind of dependency that exposes ABI and version-line concerns: downstream software often cares about which major stable branch it builds against, and build systems commonly discover it through wx-config or CMake support rather than treating it as a header-only library.
Why package nerds care
For package maintainers, wxWidgets is a classic desktop-stack dependency: old enough to have long ABI lines and wide downstream use, but still active enough to need modern compiler, CMake, macOS, GTK, and architecture support. Its formula is significant less because of a single executable and more because it supplies the GUI substrate for many other packages.
The package also illustrates why GUI toolkit packaging is harder than ordinary CLI packaging: bindings, native toolkit backends, resource compilers, and ABI-compatible stable branches all matter to downstream builds.
Timeline
- 1992: Julian Smart starts wxWindows at the University of Edinburgh's Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute.
- 1998-2005: The wxWindows Library Licence text is maintained by Julian Smart, Robert Roebling, and contributors.
- 2004: The project transitions from the wxWindows name to wxWidgets.
- 2013: wxWidgets 3.0 is released as a major stable line.
- 2022: wxWidgets 3.2.0 is released, opening the next ABI-stable series after the 3.0 line.
Related projects
- wxPython is the Python binding project around wxWidgets; the wxWidgets team page notes Robin Dunn's work on wxPython and its relationship to the toolkit.
- Related desktop GUI toolkits in the same packaging ecosystem include Qt, GTK/gtkmm, FLTK, FOX, JUCE, and IUP; wxWidgets is distinguished by its native-widget abstraction and long C++ history.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
wx-config | cli | global executable | |
wx-config-3.3 | cli | global executable | |
wxrc | cli | global executable | |
wxrc-3.3 | 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 version3.3.3
manager updated2026-07-08
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets
- infoNo cached GitHub release or tag data was available.https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgetsnone confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:wxwidgets |
|---|---|
| Version | 3.3.3 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/wxwidgets |
| Homepage | https://www.wxwidgets.org |
| Repository | https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets |
| Upstream docs | https://docs.wxwidgets.org/ |
| License | LGPL-2.0-or-later WITH WxWindows-exception-3.1 |
| Source archive | https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets/releases/download/v3.3.3/wxWidgets-3.3.3.tar.bz2 |
| Last updated | 2026-07-08T03:44:57Z |
| Pulse | updated |
| Dependencies | jpeg-turbo, libpng, libtiff, pcre2, webp |
| Build dependencies | pkgconf |
| Uses from macOS | expat |
| 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 | wxwidgets |
| Aliases |
|
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 0 |
| Head Version | HEAD |
| 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.
apk95%
wxwidgets 3.2.9-r0
wxWidgets GUI library
sudo apk add wxwidgets- License: custom:wxWidgets
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wxwidgets
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
apk95%
wxwidgets-dbg 3.2.9-r0
wxWidgets GUI library (debug symbols)
sudo apk add wxwidgets-dbg- License: custom:wxWidgets
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wxwidgets
- 1 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
apk95%
wxwidgets-dev 3.2.9-r0
wxWidgets GUI library (development files)
sudo apk add wxwidgets-dev- License: custom:wxWidgets
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wxwidgets
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
apk95%
wxwidgets-doc 3.2.9-r0
wxWidgets GUI library (documentation)
sudo apk add wxwidgets-doc- License: custom:wxWidgets
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wxwidgets
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
apk95%
wxwidgets-gtk3 3.2.9-r0
wxWidgets GUI library (GTK3 components)
sudo apk add wxwidgets-gtk3- License: custom:wxWidgets
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wxwidgets
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
apk95%
wxwidgets-qt5 3.2.9-r0
wxWidgets GUI library (Qt5 components)
sudo apk add wxwidgets-qt5- License: custom:wxWidgets
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wxwidgets
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
apk95%
wxwidgets-webview 3.2.9-r0
wxWidgets GUI library (WebView component)
sudo apk add wxwidgets-webview- License: custom:wxWidgets
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wxwidgets
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
dnf95%
wxGTK 3.2.9-2.fc44
GTK port of the wxWidgets GUI library
sudo dnf install wxGTK- License: LGPL-2.0-or-later WITH WxWindows-exception-3.1
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: wxGTK
- 31 dependencies
- 14 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
pacman95%
wxwidgets-qt5 3.2.10-2
Qt5 implementation of wxWidgets API for GUI
sudo pacman -S wxwidgets-qt5- License: custom:wxWindows
- Architecture: x86_64
- 12 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
zypper95%
libwx_baseu-suse-nostl16_0_0 3.2.8-4.4
wxWidgets base library
sudo zypper install libwx_baseu-suse-nostl16_0_0- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later WITH WxWindows-exception-3.1
- Category: System/Libraries
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wxWidgets-3_2-nostl
- 10 dependencies
- 3 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
zypper95%
libwx_baseu-suse16_0_0 3.2.8-4.4
wxWidgets base library
sudo zypper install libwx_baseu-suse16_0_0- License: LGPL-2.1-or-later WITH WxWindows-exception-3.1
- Category: System/Libraries
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: wxGTK3-3_2
- 10 dependencies
- 3 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Wxwidgets
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