# Install hfstospell with Homebrew, apt, Nix, zypper Helsinki Finite-State Technology ospell. Version 0.5.4 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install hfst-ospell. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:hfstospell ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install hfstospell ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata ### Linux - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install hfst-ospell ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: hfst-ospell from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#hfst-ospell ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/hf/hfst-ospell/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install hfst-ospell ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: hfst-ospell from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:hfstospell - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Version:** 0.5.4 - **Source summary:** Helsinki Finite-State Technology ospell - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00 ## Executables - hfst-ospell (alias) - hfst-ospell-office (alias) - hfst-ospell-predict (alias) ## Install behavior - Bottle: not available ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-08-03 - Package-manager version: 0.5.4 ## Project history and usage HFST ospell is the spell-checking library and command-line tool associated with Helsinki Finite-State Technology. It applies HFST optimized-lookup transducers to spell checking, correction, and integration with desktop proofing stacks. ### Project history HFST, the Helsinki Finite-State Technology project, was built at the University of Helsinki as a toolkit for processing natural-language morphologies with finite-state automata and transducers. Its project page describes wide-coverage implementations for languages with varying morphological complexity, and the main HFST repository presents the toolkit as a bridge across finite-state libraries and toolkits for linguistic systems. hfst-ospell is the spell-checking branch of that ecosystem. Its README describes a minimal optimized-lookup-format spell-checking library plus a demonstration command-line checker. The code exposes a C++ API around weighted transducers and a `hfst-ospell` utility that composes an error source and lexicon over standard input to print corrections. The package kept a deliberately narrow scope: rather than replacing all of HFST, it supplies the spell-checking runtime and proofing-facing command tools. The GitHub release list records releases through 0.5.4 in February 2024, while the broader HFST site points users to binaries, libraries, morphological resources, and release notes. ### Adoption history HFST-based spellers found use through language-technology projects that need finite-state spell checking for morphologically rich and lower-resource languages. The hfst-ospell README explicitly points to Voikko as the route into real applications, and then from Voikko into Enchant, LibreOffice, and Firefox. The input package facts record hfst-ospell in Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Nix, and zypper-family packaging. That cross-distro footprint is typical for language infrastructure that is not itself a consumer app but is needed by dictionaries, proofing tools, and build pipelines. ### How it is used Developers can link against the library with `pkg-config --cflags hfstospell` and `pkg-config --libs hfstospell`, then construct spellers from HFST transducer files. Command-line users can run `hfst-ospell` with an error source and lexicon, and related packaged tools include `hfst-ospell-office` and `hfst-ospell-predict`. The practical workflow is usually upstream of a user-facing editor: build or obtain ZHFST/HFST resources for a language, test correction behavior with the command-line tools, and integrate the runtime through Voikko or adjacent proofing infrastructure. ### Why package nerds care For package nerds, hfst-ospell is a small but important split package: it packages the proofing runtime separately from the larger HFST compiler/toolkit stack. That makes it easier for distributions to depend on the runtime where a desktop spell checker or dictionary package needs it without forcing every user to install the full morphology development environment. It is also a good example of finite-state NLP infrastructure crossing into ordinary desktop packaging. A command-line checker, a C++ library, pkg-config metadata, and desktop proofing adapters make the same linguistic transducers useful from both shell scripts and office-suite spell checking. ### Timeline - 1999-2022: The HFST project page copyright range reflects the long-running Helsinki finite-state toolkit web presence. - 2000s-2010s: HFST developed as a finite-state toolkit for linguistic systems and morphological processing. - 2010s: hfst-ospell provided an optimized-lookup spell-checking library and demonstration command-line checker. - 2018: The `hfst-ospell-office` manual page in the repository carries a March 2018 date. - 2024-02-20: GitHub release metadata records hfst-ospell 0.5.4. ### Related projects - hfst-ospell is related to the main HFST toolkit, OpenFST, foma, SFST, Voikko, Enchant, LibreOffice proofing, Firefox proofing, GiellaLT/Divvun language resources, and newer HFST-compatible spell-checking tools such as divvunspell. ### 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 - hfst-ospell - 0.5.4-1+b3: installed executable or alias match | Debian stable package indexes: hfst-ospell from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Spell checker library and tool based on HFST | https://github.com/hfst/hfst-ospell - Debian apt - hfst-ospell-dev - 0.5.4-1+b3: installed executable or alias match | Debian stable package indexes: hfst-ospell-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | HFST spell checker development files | https://github.com/hfst/hfst-ospell - Debian apt - libhfstospell11 - 0.5.4-1+b3: installed executable or alias match | Debian stable package indexes: libhfstospell11 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | HFST spell checker runtime libraries | https://github.com/hfst/hfst-ospell - Nix - hfst-ospell: installed executable or alias match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/hf/hfst-ospell/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - hfst-ospell - 0.5.4-1build3: installed executable or alias match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: hfst-ospell from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Spell checker library and tool based on HFST | https://github.com/hfst/hfst-ospell - Ubuntu apt - hfst-ospell-dev - 0.5.4-1build3: installed executable or alias match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: hfst-ospell-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | HFST spell checker development files | https://github.com/hfst/hfst-ospell - Ubuntu apt - libhfstospell11 - 0.5.4-1build3: installed executable or alias match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libhfstospell11 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | HFST spell checker runtime libraries | https://github.com/hfst/hfst-ospell - zypper - hfst-ospell - 0.5.4-1.10: installed executable or alias match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: hfst-ospell from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst | Spell checker library and tool based on HFST | https://hfst.github.io/ - zypper - hfst-ospell-devel - 0.5.4-1.10: installed executable or alias match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: hfst-ospell-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst | HFST spell checker development files | https://hfst.github.io/ - zypper - libhfstospell11 - 0.5.4-1.10: installed executable or alias match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libhfstospell11 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst | HFST spell checker runtime libraries | https://hfst.github.io/ - zypper - libhfstospell11-32bit - 0.5.4-1.10: installed executable or alias match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libhfstospell11-32bit from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst | HFST spell checker runtime libraries | https://hfst.github.io/ ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/hfstospell.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/hfstospell.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