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Install uniutils with Homebrew, apt, zypper

Manipulate and analyze Unicode text. Version 2.28 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install uniutils.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install uniutils

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install uniutils

Debian stable package indexes · uniutils · source: deb.debian.org

openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install uniutils

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · uniutils · source: download.opensuse.org

overview

Package summary

Manipulate and analyze Unicode text

Commands and aliases

  • ExplicateUTF8
  • unidesc
  • unifuzz
  • unihist
  • uniname
  • unireverse
  • unisurrogate
  • utf8lookup

history

Project history and usage

uniutils is a small POSIX C toolkit for inspecting, manipulating, and generating Unicode text from the command line. Its history is modest but source-backed: the author's page documents the tool set, release changes, language, environment, version, and package links.

Project history

The official page presents uniutils as a set of programs for Unicode text analysis. Its documented tools include uniname, unidesc, unihist, ExplicateUTF8, utf8lookup, unireverse, unifuzz, and unisurrogate.

The last documented release on the official page is 2.28, last modified 2009-04-25. The change log shows late releases adding Unicode range reporting, UTF-8 string reversal, fuzz input generation, Unicode 5.1 data updates, and UTF-16 surrogate decomposition.

Adoption history

uniutils appears in the official page's package links for Debian, FreeBSD, SUSE, Ubuntu, and other older package indexes, and the input confirms availability through Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, and openSUSE. Its adoption is therefore mostly the long tail of Unix text-processing packages rather than a large upstream community.

How it is used

The tools are for terminal-level Unicode forensics: naming code points, validating UTF-8, identifying script ranges, building character histograms, reversing strings by character instead of byte, looking up UTF-8 encodings, generating problematic Unicode input, and decomposing non-BMP characters into UTF-16 surrogates.

Package users are likely to reach for uniutils when debugging mojibake, invisible characters, invalid UTF-8, unfamiliar scripts, font gaps, or parser behavior around odd Unicode input.

Why package nerds care

uniutils is package-nerd significant as a classic small Unix toolbox: narrow executables, no daemon, no config, no credentials, and enough Unicode knowledge to solve problems that general-purpose text tools hide.

Its niche status is also the point. A package manager keeps these old, sharp tools discoverable so users do not have to reinvent one-off scripts for codepoint inspection or malformed UTF-8 testing.

Timeline

  • 2000s: uniutils evolved as a POSIX C toolkit for Unicode text analysis.
  • 2.24: Added Unirev, later renamed unireverse.
  • 2.26: Added unifuzz and changed licensing to GPLv3 for that release line.
  • 2.27: Updated character data to Unicode 5.1.
  • 2009: Version 2.28 added unisurrogate and is listed as the current version on the official page.

Related projects

  • The toolkit overlaps with Unix text filters, Unicode database tools, iconv-adjacent workflows, and fuzzing utilities. The official utf8lookup script depends on the separate Ascii2binary utility.

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.

executables

Installed executables

CommandKindExposureNote
ExplicateUTF8executableindexed executableDiscovered from the local executable index.
unidescexecutableindexed executableDiscovered from the local executable index.
unifuzzexecutableindexed executableDiscovered from the local executable index.
unihistexecutableindexed executableDiscovered from the local executable index.
uninameexecutableindexed executableDiscovered from the local executable index.
unireverseexecutableindexed executableDiscovered from the local executable index.
unisurrogateexecutableindexed executableDiscovered from the local executable index.
utf8lookupexecutableindexed executableDiscovered 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 version2.28
manager updated
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
  • okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:uniutils
Version2.28
Package managerHomebrew
Homepagehttps://billposer.org/Software/unidesc.html
Bottlenot recorded
Servicenone declared

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Debian apt95%

uniutils 2.28-2

Tools for finding out what is in a Unicode file

https://billposer.org/Software/unidesc.html

sudo apt install uniutils
  • Section: misc
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 2 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Uniutils
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: uniutils from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Ubuntu apt95%

uniutils 2.27-2build1

Tools for finding out what is in a Unicode file

sudo apt install uniutils
  • Section: universe/misc
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 2 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Uniutils
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: uniutils from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
zypper95%

uniutils 2.28-1.4

Unicode utilities

https://billposer.org/Software/unidesc.html

sudo zypper install uniutils
  • License: GPL-2.0-or-later
  • Category: Development/Tools/Other
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: uniutils
  • 2 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Uniutils
openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: uniutils from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

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.

Used sources

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