# Install format-udf with Homebrew

Bash script to format a block device to UDF. Version 1.8.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:format-udf
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install format-udf
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:format-udf
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.8.0
- **Source summary:** Bash script to format a block device to UDF
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/JElchison/format-udf>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/JElchison/format-udf>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- format-udf (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.8.0
## Project history and usage

format-udf is a Bash script for formatting block devices as UDF volumes intended to be read and written across Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its README presents it as a compatibility tool for external hard drives and flash drives.

### Project history

The GitHub repository was created in August 2014. The README says the project was created to address operating-system-specific quirks that make naively formatted UDF devices fail across platforms, including block-size expectations, partition-table behavior, and macOS full-disk mounting behavior.

### Adoption history

The project remains a focused utility rather than a broad platform. Its official release history shows incremental fixes around OS and device support, including macOS 10.12 support, loop devices, udftools 2.0+, NVMe, and broader block-device handling.

### How it is used

Users run the script against a Linux device such as /dev/sdx or a macOS device such as /dev/diskN, supplying a volume label. The script detects block size, validates dependencies, can wipe the target, formats with UDF revision 2.01 for compatibility, and writes a fake MBR unless disabled.

### Why package nerds care

format-udf matters to package nerds because it codifies a pile of cross-platform filesystem edge cases in one auditable shell script. It is the kind of small system package that exists because the underlying native tools are powerful but not friendly to a portable-disk workflow.

### Timeline

- 2014: GitHub repository created.
- 2016: Release added macOS 10.12 support.
- 2018: Release added support for udftools 2.0 and newer.
- 2020: Releases added Linux NVMe and broader block-device support.

### Related projects

- format-udf depends on platform tools such as mkudffs or newfs_udf and wraps Universal Disk Format workflows. Its README discusses the fake-MBR technique used to improve Windows compatibility for whole-disk UDF volumes.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/JElchison/format-udf>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/JElchison/format-udf/releases?per_page=10>
- <https://github.com/JElchison/format-udf>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JElchison/format-udf/master/README.md>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/format-udf.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/format-udf.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph