# Install vice with Homebrew, apk, apt, Nix, pacman, winget

Versatile Commodore Emulator. Version 3.10 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install vice.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:vice
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install vice
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- apk (92%):

```sh
sudo apk add vice
```

  Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: vice from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install vice
```

  Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: vice from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/contrib/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#vice
```

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

- pacman (92%):

```sh
sudo pacman -S vice
```

  Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: vice from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz

### Windows

- winget (92%):

```sh
winget install --id VICE-Team.VICE.GTK3 -e
```

  Evidence: Windows Package Manager source index: VICE-Team.VICE.GTK3 from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:vice
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 3.10
- **Source summary:** Versatile Commodore Emulator
- **Homepage:** <https://sourceforge.net/projects/vice-emu/>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- c1541 (alias)
- cartconv (alias)
- petcat (alias)
- vsid (alias)
- x128 (alias)
- x64 (alias)
- x64dtv (alias)
- x64sc (alias)
- xcbm2 (alias)
- xcbm5x0 (alias)
- xpet (alias)
- xplus4 (alias)
- xscpu64 (alias)
- xvic (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 3.10
## Project history and usage

VICE, the Versatile Commodore Emulator, is a long-running free software emulator suite for Commodore 8-bit computers. The current project covers the C64, C64DTV, C128, VIC-20, most PET models, Plus/4, CBM-II, and a C64 SuperCPU variant, with separate executables for the different emulated machines and tools.

### Project history

VICE development began in 1993 under Finnish programmer Jarkko Sonninen, who founded the project and retired from it in 1994. The project later continued as a volunteer-maintained emulator suite under the VICE Team, with official distribution and source hosting on SourceForge.

By the 2000s VICE had become one of the standard Commodore 8-bit emulation packages, especially on free Unix-like systems where historically fewer full-featured Commodore emulators were available. VICE was released under the GNU General Public License from 2004, and its manual and source tree document a broad, preservation-oriented codebase rather than a single-machine emulator.

### Adoption history

The VICE name also covered platform-specific identities over time: older Win32 builds were widely known as WinVICE, while OS/2 and BeOS variants were called Vice/2 and BeVICE. As the project modernized, some old host ports were retired; VICE 3.4 dropped support for several legacy Unix-like systems because of lack of maintainers, and VICE 3.5 dropped explicit OS/2 and AmigaOS support during the GTK3 UI transition.

### How it is used

Users typically launch the machine-specific emulator they need, such as `x64sc` or `x64` for Commodore 64, `x128` for Commodore 128, `xvic` for VIC-20, `xpet` for PET, or `xplus4` for Plus/4. The suite also includes command-line and conversion tools such as `c1541`, `cartconv`, `petcat`, and `vsid`, making it useful both for playing preserved software and for retrocomputing development workflows.

### Why package nerds care

For package maintainers and retrocomputing users, VICE is significant because it packages a large preservation stack into reproducible builds across operating systems. Its breadth means distributions often expose many executables from one package, and its SourceForge-era history makes it a classic example of mature free software infrastructure surviving multiple host-platform and UI transitions.

### Timeline

- 1993: VICE development began under Jarkko Sonninen.
- 1994: Sonninen retired from the project.
- 2004: VICE was free software under the GNU GPL.
- 2008-12-19: VICE 2.1 release documented support for C64, C128, VIC-20, Plus/4, C64DTV, PET, and CBM-II families.
- 2019-2020 era: VICE 3.4 and 3.5 retired several old host ports while moving through GTK3 UI modernization.
- 2025-12-24: VICE 3.10 released.

### Related projects

- Related Commodore and emulator projects include CCS64, MAME, and VICE.js, a JavaScript port of VICE.
- The suite targets Commodore 8-bit families rather than later Amiga systems, so it complements rather than replaces Amiga-focused emulators.

### Sources

- <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VICE>
- <https://sourceforge.net/projects/vice-emu/>
- <https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/>
- <https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/vice_toc.html>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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


## 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

- Unix: ~/.config/vice/vicerc, ~/.vicerc
## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - vice - 3.9+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: vice from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/contrib/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Versatile Commodore Emulator | https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/
- Nix - vice: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/vi/vice/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Ubuntu apt - vice - 3.7.1+dfsg1-2build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: vice from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Versatile Commodore Emulator | https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/
- apk - vice - 3.10-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: vice from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | emulates the C64/DTV, C128, VIC20, almost all PETs, PLUS4 and CBM-II | https://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/
- apk - vice-doc - 3.10-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: vice-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | emulates the C64/DTV, C128, VIC20, almost all PETs, PLUS4 and CBM-II (documentation) | https://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/
- pacman - vice - 3.10-3: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: vice from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Versatile Commodore Emulator (GTK3) | https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/
- pacman - vice-sdl2 - 3.10-3: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: vice-sdl2 from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Versatile Commodore Emulator (SDL2) | https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/
- winget - VICE-Team.VICE.GTK3: normalized package name match | Windows Package Manager source index: VICE-Team.VICE.GTK3 from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix


## Combined YAML source

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


## Sources

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