# Install fdclone with Homebrew, apt, MacPorts Console-based file manager. Version 3.01j via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-03. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install fdclone. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:fdclone ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install fdclone ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install FDclone ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: sysutils/FDclone/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install fdclone ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: fdclone from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:fdclone - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Version:** 3.01j - **Source summary:** Console-based file manager - **Homepage:** - **Last updated:** 2026-07-03T16:35:56-04:00 - **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00 ## Executables - fdsh (alias) ## Install behavior - Bottle: not available ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-08-03 - Package-manager version: 3.01j ## Project history and usage FDclone is a console file and directory maintenance tool for Unix-like systems, modeled after the Japanese MS-DOS file manager FD and shipped with an integrated shell as `fdsh`. ### Project history The English README says FDclone is a Unix file and directory maintenance tool and a clone of the MS-DOS FD utility made by A. Idei in 1989. Takashi Shirai wrote FDclone to preserve the familiar FD-style workflow for users moving from MS-DOS to Unix while implementing the program independently. The official project page explains that FDclone 2.00 was a major change because it embedded shell functionality without using `system(3)`. FDclone 3.00 arrived seven years after 2.00 because network support required large changes to source organization and required libraries. ### Adoption history The official page describes FD as popular enough among Japanese MS-DOS users that its name became a synonym for file maintenance tools. FDclone carried that interaction model into Unix terminals, with attention to Japanese text handling, terminal behavior, archives, and a split-window browser. The official history records portability and environment support over many years: Linux/ia64, Cygwin, NetBSD, MINIX, Android, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Darwin or Mac OS X fixes. The supplied package metadata also shows FDclone packaged by Homebrew, Debian/Ubuntu, and MacPorts. ### How it is used The English manual describes `fd` as a text-terminal browser with file lists, tree and archive browser modes, marked-file operations, function-key commands, and internal commands for copying, deleting, renaming, sorting, finding, packing, unpacking, and editing files. The `fdsh` executable exposes the internal shell side. That makes FDclone unusual among file managers in package collections: it is both a visual terminal file manager and a shell environment shaped by its MS-DOS heritage. ### Why package nerds care FDclone is historically interesting because it preserves a Japanese DOS-era file-manager lineage inside Unix package managers. It is not a modern minimal CLI; it is a compatibility and culture artifact with deep terminal, Kanji, archive, network, and shell behavior. For package maintainers, its significance is also practical: the official history shows long-running portability work across older Unix variants, Japanese encodings, Cygwin, Android, BSDs, MINIX, and MS-DOS build modes. ### Timeline - 1989: Original MS-DOS FD utility created by A. Idei. - 2008: FDclone 3.00 added URL drive, socket redirection, and message catalogs. - 2012: FDclone 3.01 added IME-related variables and frequency dictionary features. - 2019: FDclone 3.01j fixed symbolic-link handling and Kanji conversion issues. ### Related projects - FDclone is directly related to the original MS-DOS FD file maintenance tool by A. Idei. - The README also mentions an earlier Unix file maintenance tool named `fu`, whose users reportedly aliased it to `fd`, reinforcing the value of the FD name for DOS-to-Unix users. ### Sources - - - - - ## 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 - fdclone - 3.01j-1.1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: fdclone from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | console-base lightweight file manager | https://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/ - Ubuntu apt - fdclone - 3.01j-1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: fdclone from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | console-base lightweight file manager | http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA012337/soft/fd/ - MacPorts - FDclone: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: sysutils/FDclone/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/fdclone.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/fdclone.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