# Install unnethack with Homebrew, Nix

Fork of Nethack. Version 5.3.2 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-10. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#unnethack.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:unnethack
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install unnethack
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#unnethack
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/un/unnethack/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:unnethack
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 5.3.2
- **Source summary:** Fork of Nethack
- **Homepage:** <https://unnethack.wordpress.com/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/UnNetHack/UnNetHack>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-10T10:41:25-04:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- unnethack (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 5.3.2
## Project history and usage

UnNetHack is a terminal roguelike and NetHack variant. Its upstream README describes it as a fork originally based on NetHack 3.4.3, with more randomness, more levels, more challenges, and a development style intended to feel like NetHack had continued releasing as a modern open source project.

### Project history

The project belongs to the long NetHack variant tradition rather than to a standalone game lineage. Its earliest tagged base in the repository is NetHack 3.4.3, and the UnNetHack changelog records UnNetHack 3.5.1 on 2009-06-13 with new Sokoban, Medusa, Castle, bigroom, Blackmarket, and other variant levels, plus borrowed patches from the wider roguelike ecosystem.

Later releases continued that model of curating NetHack community ideas. The changelog records UnNetHack 4.0.0 in 2012, 5.1.0 in 2013, and 5.2.0 in 2019, with work on reproducible dungeon layouts, UTF-8 terminal graphics, status indicators, xlogfile support, and many imported or adapted ideas from NetHack 3.6, xNetHack, dNetHack, EvilHack, Slash'EM, SporkHack, and other variants.

### Adoption history

The official README points users to the project page, development blog, public servers, source repository, IRC, Reddit, and the rec.games.roguelike.nethack Usenet group, which places adoption in the traditional NetHack community channels rather than in a commercial release channel.

The supplied package metadata records distribution through Homebrew and Nix. For package-manager users, that makes UnNetHack a packaged way to install a community-maintained NetHack fork without building the large historic C codebase by hand.

### How it is used

UnNetHack is used like other NetHack-family terminal games: users install the `unnethack` executable and play locally in a terminal or on public servers. Its changelog highlights TTY and curses UI work, UTF-8 graphics, xlogfile fields, dump logs, and seed support, all features that matter to players who run games locally, script reproducible games, or host shared roguelike servers.

### Why package nerds care

For package nerds, UnNetHack is a neat example of a packaged game fork whose value is not a new engine but a maintained variant rule set and a curated patch set. It also exercises classic Unix packaging concerns: terminal UI, reproducible builds, generated configuration defaults, save files, public-server compatibility, and a source tree descended from historic NetHack.

### Timeline

- 2003: Repository includes the NetHack 3.4.3 base tag.
- 2009: UnNetHack 3.5.1 appears in the upstream changelog with new variant levels and community patches.
- 2012: UnNetHack 4.0.0 is recorded in the upstream changelog.
- 2013: UnNetHack 5.1.0 is recorded in the upstream changelog.
- 2019: UnNetHack 5.2.0 adds reproducible dungeon layout support and UTF-8 terminal defaults.

### Related projects

- NetHack is the upstream base. The UnNetHack changelog also names other related NetHack variants and patch sources including Slash'EM, SporkHack, xNetHack, dNetHack, EvilHack, AceHack, NH4, and GruntHack.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/UnNetHack/UnNetHack/blob/master/ChangeLog>
- <https://github.com/UnNetHack/UnNetHack/blob/master/README>
- source_facts.package-manager


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - unnethack: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/un/unnethack/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/unnethack.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/unnethack.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