Install htmldoc with Homebrew, apk, apt, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository

Commands and aliases

• htmldoc

Project history

The upstream README says HTMLDOC was developed in the 1990s as a documentation generator for Sweet's previous company and later saw substantial use as a report generator embedded in web servers. The project site describes the same core job as converting HTML and Markdown sources or web pages to paged and ebook-oriented output formats.

The source tree carries an older `release-1.8b4` tag dated 1999 and a long 1.8/1.9 tag line, showing a package with pre-GitHub roots that was later preserved in a public Git repository. The release notes and site also document the deliberate limitations that shaped its evolution: useful for documentation, invoices, and reports, but not a general modern browser engine with full CSS, forms, Unicode, or emoji support.

Adoption history

The input package facts record HTMLDOC in Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, Alpine, and openSUSE-style packaging. That breadth fits a utility that is often installed by documentation build systems or server-side report generators rather than by end users seeking a full browser-to-PDF stack.

How it is used

HTMLDOC is used where relatively simple HTML or Markdown needs deterministic printable output: manuals, internal documentation, invoices, reports, and table-of-contents-based documents. Its appeal is the narrow converter surface: it can be automated from the command line while also offering a GUI for manual jobs.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, HTMLDOC is interesting because it is an old-school Unix packaging survivor. It predates the headless-Chromium era, keeps a focused paged-output model, and remains small enough to package widely as a standalone converter instead of pulling in a browser runtime.

Timeline

• 1990s: HTMLDOC was developed as a documentation generator for Michael R Sweet's previous company.
• 1999: The public Git history includes the `release-1.8b4` tag.
• 2011-2024: Runtime version text in issue output identifies the 1.9 line as GPL software maintained by Michael R Sweet across that period.
• 2026: The GitHub repository includes the `v1.9.23` tag for the continuing 1.9 series.
• Package-manager era: The input package facts record HTMLDOC across Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, Alpine, and zypper-family packaging.

Related projects

• HTMLDOC is related to other document converters and paged-output generators, but it occupies a narrower historical lane than browser-based HTML-to-PDF tools. Its closest package-manager neighbors are converters such as wkhtmltopdf, Pandoc, and headless-browser wrappers, while its design lineage is closer to static documentation and report generation.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/michaelrsweet/htmldoc/commits/2de07fe97da08de65f1284c8497b90cfaa24d9eb
• https://api.github.com/repos/michaelrsweet/htmldoc/commits/91cd814cbad259669c9b3e768e8a15fc1c6c156e
• https://api.github.com/repos/michaelrsweet/htmldoc/tags?per_page=100
• https://github.com/michaelrsweet/htmldoc
• https://github.com/michaelrsweet/htmldoc/releases
• https://www.msweet.org/htmldoc/