# Install fatsort with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper
Sorts FAT16 and FAT32 partitions. Version 1.7.679 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install fatsort.
## Install
```sh
sudo av install brew:fatsort
```
Additional install commands:
### macOS
- Homebrew (100%):
```sh
brew install fatsort
```
Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata
- MacPorts (94%):
```sh
sudo port install fatsort
```
Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: sysutils/fatsort/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1
### Linux
- Debian apt (92%):
```sh
sudo apt install fatsort
```
Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: fatsort from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
- dnf (92%):
```sh
sudo dnf install fatsort
```
Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: fatsort from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/07190dc5ae9f35ae73866675fed6d95fe6e8d9fe22c9d7cdf85862cb2ed24a4c-primary.xml.zst
- Nix (92%):
```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#fatsort
```
Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/fa/fatsort/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- pacman (92%):
```sh
sudo pacman -S fatsort
```
Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: fatsort from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz
- zypper (92%):
```sh
sudo zypper install fatsort
```
Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: fatsort from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst
## Package facts
- **Package key:** brew:fatsort
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.7.679
- **Source summary:** Sorts FAT16 and FAT32 partitions
- **Homepage:**
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00
## Executables
- fatsort (alias)
## Install behavior
- Bottle: not available
## Freshness
- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.7.679
## Project history and usage
FATSort is a small C utility for sorting directory entries on FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT filesystems. Its niche is practical rather than fashionable: it fixes the ordering seen by devices that read FAT directories in on-disk order instead of presenting their own sorted view.
### Project history
The official homepage says FATSort was originally written for a hardware MP3 player that did not sort MP3 files automatically, because no suitable utility existed at the time. That origin explains both the tool's narrow scope and its long maintenance life: it operates directly on filesystem directory structures rather than acting as a general file organizer.
The changelog shows a steady hardening cycle around filesystem correctness. FAT12 support appeared with the 1.0 release in 2013, exFAT support arrived in 1.6.0 in 2019, and later releases focused on endianness, locale, long-filename, multi-byte-character, and consistency checks.
### Adoption history
FATSort has remained a packaged Unix utility because its problem still appears on embedded devices, car stereos, cameras, and music players that expose FAT media. The official homepage notes inclusion in Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, and Gentoo, which is unusually broad distribution for such a specialized filesystem tool.
### How it is used
Typical use is direct and low-level: run `fatsort [OPTIONS] DEVICE` against an unmounted FAT filesystem or block device, choosing sort order, reverse order, random order, modification-time order, locale handling, and directory inclusion or exclusion as needed. The man page emphasizes that it sorts the filesystem directory structure itself.
### Why package nerds care
For package-manager users, FATSort is the sort of tool that justifies a formula or distro package despite a tiny feature surface. It preserves a hardware-era workaround in a reproducible command-line form, with enough filesystem checks and portability fixes to be safer than one-off scripts.
### Timeline
- 2009: Changelog shows active 0.9.x maintenance by September 2009.
- 2013: FATSort 1.0 adds FAT12 support and stronger filesystem integrity checks.
- 2019: FATSort 1.6.0 adds exFAT support.
- 2025: FATSort 1.7 improves exFAT directory entry handling and string comparison performance.
- 2026: FATSort 1.7.1 ships bug fixes for string termination and version tests.
### Related projects
- FATSort sits beside FAT filesystem utilities rather than replacing them; it is concerned with directory-entry ordering, not formatting, checking, or repairing whole filesystems.
### Sources
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## Security Notes
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
## Other Package-Manager Records
- Debian apt - fatsort - 1.6.5.640-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: fatsort from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | utility for sorting FAT directory structures | https://fatsort.sourceforge.net
- Nix - fatsort: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/fa/fatsort/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Ubuntu apt - fatsort - 1.6.4.625-0.1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: fatsort from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | utility for sorting FAT directory structures | http://fatsort.sourceforge.net
- dnf - fatsort - 1.6.5.640-5.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: fatsort from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/07190dc5ae9f35ae73866675fed6d95fe6e8d9fe22c9d7cdf85862cb2ed24a4c-primary.xml.zst | FAT sorter for FAT16 and FAT32 filesystems | https://fatsort.sourceforge.net/
- pacman - fatsort - 2:1.7.1.683-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: fatsort from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Sorts directory structures of FAT12/FAT16/FAT32/exFAT file systems | http://fatsort.sourceforge.net
- zypper - fatsort - 1.7.679-1.5: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: fatsort from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst | FAT Filesystem Sorting Utility | https://fatsort.sourceforge.io/
- MacPorts - fatsort: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: sysutils/fatsort/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1
## Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/fatsort.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/fatsort.yml)
## Sources
- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph