# Install opendetex with Homebrew, MacPorts Tool to strip TeX or LaTeX commands from documents. Version 2.8.11 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with macports: sudo port install opendetex. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:opendetex ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install opendetex ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install opendetex ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: tex/opendetex/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:opendetex - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Version:** 2.8.11 - **Source summary:** Tool to strip TeX or LaTeX commands from documents - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00 ## Executables - delatex (alias) ## Install behavior - Bottle: not available ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-08-03 - Package-manager version: 2.8.11 ## Project history and usage OpenDetex is the maintained successor line of DeTeX, a utility that strips TeX and LaTeX markup from source documents to produce readable plain text. It preserves the old tool's package-nerd charm: a focused lexer-style command-line program with decades of TeX workflow inertia behind it. ### Project history Daniel Trinkle's DeTeX originated at Purdue University and was distributed from his personal academic page. Trinkle's page points users to OpenDetex as the more modern derivative, and CTAN marks the original `detex` package as retired in favor of Piotr Kubowicz's OpenDetex. ### Adoption history OpenDetex's adoption is mostly through TeX and Unix packaging channels rather than a large application ecosystem. It appears in Homebrew and MacPorts as `opendetex`, while manual pages in Linux distributions preserve the authorship chain from Trinkle's original program to Kubowicz's maintenance. ### How it is used Users run the command-line program over TeX or LaTeX sources when they need approximate plain text for indexing, spell checking, word counting, or review workflows. The tool intentionally removes commands rather than trying to typeset or fully understand a TeX document. ### Why package nerds care OpenDetex matters because it is a tiny maintenance fork that kept a useful academic Unix utility alive after the original author retired it. Its packaging story is the familiar one for old document-processing tools: the interface remains small, but users value it because it fits cleanly into shell pipelines. ### Timeline - 2004: Daniel Trinkle's DeTeX page was last modified and later directed users to OpenDetex. - OpenDetex was created from DeTeX 2.8 by Piotr Kubowicz, according to the project README. ### Related projects - OpenDetex is directly descended from DeTeX and sits near other TeX-adjacent text extraction tools, but it keeps the narrower goal of removing TeX constructs instead of converting documents through a full typesetting or markup conversion pipeline. ### 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 - MacPorts - opendetex: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: tex/opendetex/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/opendetex.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/opendetex.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