macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install midnight-commanderprovider-native install command
brew / rank 972
Install midnight-commander with Homebrew
Terminal-based visual file manager. Version 4.8.33 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-22.
install
Additional install commands
overview
Package summary
Terminal-based visual file manager
Project links
Commands and aliases
- mc
- mcdiff
- mcedit
- mcview
history
Project history and usage
GNU Midnight Commander is a terminal file manager in the orthodox, two-panel tradition. The project's maintainers page says it was founded around 1994 by Miguel de Icaza, and the project README describes it as a free clone of John Socha's Norton Commander that also borrowed ideas from newer tools with similar interfaces. The same maintainers page records Andrew Borodin and Yury V. Zaytsev as the project team and notes that Slava Zanko relaunched it as a collaborative project in 2009.
Project history
Technically, Midnight Commander grew into more than a copy, move, and delete interface. Its README describes a text-mode full-screen user shell that runs on consoles, xterm, and other terminal emulators, and that remains usable over telnet or SSH. Major practical features include a built-in virtual file system for FTP, SFTP, SSH, and archive formats; mouse support in terminals; a built-in text editor and hex-capable viewer; command completion; subshell integration with common shells; background file operations; external panelization; and context-sensitive open, view, and edit actions.
How it is used
Its adoption history is visible in its broad packaging footprint: the same mc executable is distributed across Linux distributions, BSD-oriented systems, macOS package managers, Windows package managers, and Nix-style environments. In practice it serves administrators and terminal-heavy users who want a visual file manager over remote sessions, inside minimal systems, or in workflows where a GUI file manager is unavailable. Among package-manager tools, it is the long-lived, feature-rich TUI file manager, sitting beside smaller navigators and newer terminal file managers rather than competing with graphical desktop file managers.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: green
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:no-higher-risk-signals
Install behavior
- No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
local files
Configuration and credential file locations
These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.
Configuration files
Config paths the tool may read or write during local use.
- Unix
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mc/ini$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mc/hotlist$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mc/panels.ini~/.config/mc/ini~/.config/mc/hotlist~/.config/mc/panels.ini
Credential files
Credential-bearing paths to review before unattended agent runs.
- Unix
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mc/ini$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mc/hotlist$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mc/panels.ini~/.config/mc/ini~/.config/mc/hotlist~/.config/mc/panels.ini
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
mc | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
mcdiff | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
mcedit | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
mcview | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-08-03
manager version4.8.33
manager updated2026-06-22
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:midnight-commander |
|---|---|
| Version | 4.8.33 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://www.midnight-commander.org/ |
| Repository | https://github.com/MidnightCommander/mc |
| Last updated | 2026-06-22T14:05:28-07:00 |
| Pulse | updated |
| Bottle | not recorded |
| Service | none declared |
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- Nucleus package database
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation