# Install wv2 with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix

Programs for accessing Microsoft Word documents. Version 0.4.2 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#wv2.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:wv2
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install wv2
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install wv2
```

  Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: textproc/wv2/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#wv2
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/wv/wv2/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:wv2
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.4.2
- **Source summary:** Programs for accessing Microsoft Word documents
- **Homepage:** <https://wvware.sourceforge.net/>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- wv2-config (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.4.2
## Project history and usage

wv2 is a C++ Microsoft Word binary-document access library associated with the older wvWare project. Its package-manager niche is not an end-user converter as much as a compatibility library for software that needed to import legacy .doc files.

### Project history

The wvWare project began as mswordview and was renamed after the maintainers judged the original name too close to Microsoft's Word Viewer. The wv project supplied code for reading Word 6, 95, 97, and 2000 formats, and its site records use by AbiWord and influence on KWord's importer.

wv2 appeared as the intended second-generation library. A Debian intent-to-package notice for wv2 0.0.9 described it as a library for accessing Microsoft Word documents and as an eventual replacement for the wv library, with upstream authors from the AbiWord and KDE/KWord orbit.

### Adoption history

The historical adoption story is mostly desktop-office plumbing: wvWare states that its library was used by AbiWord, while wv2 was packaged by Unix distributions as a Word import library for KWord/KOffice-era workflows. The small Homebrew package is therefore a fossil from the period when free office suites had to reverse-engineer Microsoft binary formats.

### How it is used

Developers used wv2 through its library and config helper rather than as a standalone document converter. Its value was in giving applications a way to parse old Word binary files for import or conversion before OOXML and newer document libraries became the dominant path.

### Why package nerds care

wv2 matters because it sits at the intersection of early open-source office suites, KDE/KOffice import filters, and the painful packaging of proprietary binary office formats. It is a small package, but it explains why old dependency graphs still contain libgsf-era Word import code.

### Timeline

- 2000-08-28: SourceForge records the wvWare project registration.
- 2000: Dom Lachowicz took over wv maintenance from original author Caolan McNamara in late August 2000.
- 2002: Debian packaging discussion described wv2 0.0.9 as an eventual replacement for wv.
- 2005: wv 1.2.0 switched to libgsf, libxml2, and glib, reflecting GNOME-office-era library consolidation.

### Related projects

- wv2 is related to wv/wvWare, AbiWord, KWord/KOffice, libgsf, and the broader family of document import libraries for legacy Microsoft Office formats.

### Sources

- <https://freshports.org/textproc/wv2/>
- <https://groups.google.com/g/linux.debian.devel/c/2W3GIXAUG-I>
- <https://sourceforge.net/projects/wvware/>
- <https://wvware.sourceforge.net/>


## 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 - wv2: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/wv/wv2/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- MacPorts - wv2: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: textproc/wv2/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/wv2.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/wv2.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