macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install elesslocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew / rank 10189
Install eless with Homebrew
Better less using Emacs view-mode and Bash. Version 0.7 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
overview
Package summary
Better less using Emacs view-mode and Bash
Project links
Commands and aliases
- eless
history
Project history and usage
eless is a Bash-and-Emacs pager that tries to behave like a better `less`: quick to launch, independent of the user's normal Emacs configuration, and useful for syntax-highlighted files, man pages, Info manuals, diffs, logs, directories, and piped output.
Project history
The eless repository was created in April 2017. Its README describes the tool as a combination of a Bash script and a minimal Emacs `view-mode` configuration, created because the author wanted something like `less` but with Emacs' richer viewing modes.
The project is intentionally small and literate: the README says the script and documentation are generated from one Org Babel source file, and the documentation site is generated from the same file.
Adoption history
eless remained a niche terminal productivity tool rather than a broad ecosystem package. Its adoption path is mostly manual installation and Homebrew, aimed at users who already have Emacs installed and want it to serve as a pager.
How it is used
Users run `eless file`, pipe command output into it, set `PAGER=eless` for git or man-page workflows, inspect directories through dired, view colored diffs, or follow logs with auto-revert behavior. It deliberately avoids requiring an already-running Emacs server.
Because it depends on Emacs, Bash, Perl, and Texinfo for some workflows, eless is most attractive to terminal users who already live near the Emacs ecosystem and want a richer pager without changing every command-line habit.
Why package nerds care
eless is a neat package-manager edge case: the package is just a small script, but it turns a large editor runtime into a pager. That makes it interesting for CLI catalogs because its real capability comes from composition with Emacs rather than from a large standalone binary.
Timeline
- 2017: GitHub repository created.
- 2017: eless documented as a Bash script plus minimal Emacs view-mode configuration.
- 2022: Last observed repository push from GitHub metadata before this enrichment run.
Related projects
- eless relates to `less`, Emacs view-mode, dired, man, Info, git diff pagers, and other enhanced pagers such as bat or delta, though its implementation is centered on Emacs rather than terminal rendering alone.
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 bottle metadata was recorded.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
eless | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
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 generated2026-08-03
manager version0.7
manager updated
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:eless |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.7 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://eless.scripter.co/ |
| Repository | https://github.com/kaushalmodi/eless |
| Bottle | not recorded |
| Service | none declared |
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
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- pkg.so package database
- pkgdb category and tag curation