How to install Meld with Homebrew on Mac OSX?

Question

To install meld on Mac OSX I try to run:

brew install meld

but I got the following error:

Error: No available formula for meld

What is the right way to install meld?

you probably ought to switch out the accepted answer... – Zach Lysobey Jan 15 '14 at 23:10 — Zach Lysobey, Jan 15 '14 at 23:10

score 133 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 30 '20 at 16:40

133

Homebrew

You can now install Meld with Homebrew! On macOS, run:

$ brew install --cask meld

Other Homebrew Commands

I've changed the syntax of this answer over time to be more fluent. The following commands are equivalent and also work for at least macOS Sierra and High Sierra:

$ brew install --cask homebrew/cask/meld
$ brew install homebrew/cask/meld

You should not run the older $ brew install homebrew/gui/meld because it's deprecated by Homebrew.

edited Dec 30 '20 at 16:40

connorads

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answered Feb 10 '17 at 18:57

Merchako

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upvoted! only 37 votes to go :P – jotadepicas Mar 03 '17 at 20:54
The second step should be `brew install caskroom/cask/meld`. Check the brew warning when trying to run `brew install homebrew/gui/meld`: `Warning: Use caskroom/cask/meld instead of deprecated homebrew/gui/meld` – Juraj Martinka Jul 11 '17 at 07:18
They both seem to work fine for me. Is there a reason to prefer the new way? – Merchako Jul 12 '17 at 12:21
This worked for me, but I got a GTK error, which was resolved by running unlink /Applications/Meld.app/Contents/Frameworks/libz.1.dylib – Shane Nov 25 '17 at 22:32
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FYI: `$ brew cask install meld` works for me on macOS Catalina v10.15.2 as of today 29 Jan 2020. – Yuci Jan 29 '20 at 11:28
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@Yuci are you not getting an error when launching the app due to it not being verified ? – Ciprian Tomoiagă Mar 12 '20 at 22:44
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@CiprianTomoiagă No error, it is working fine. Just to be sure, I opened it just now :-) – Yuci Mar 13 '20 at 10:00
This used to be `brew cask install meld`, but Homebrew changed their syntax in December 2020. – Merchako Jan 02 '21 at 19:04

score 43 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 24 '13 at 20:27

43

As pointed out by @meduz in the comment above, meld now compiles file in brew (haven't tested yet), please try it first, since my original answer is much older.

Today is already possible install it using Homebrew:

brew install meld

I got a issue with pygtk, when I execute meld it says:

Couldn't bind the translation domain. Some translations won't work.
Cannot import: pygtk
No module named pygtk

I already have pygtk installed from lion, and needed to export it to work:

export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/

Add the above line to your ~/.profile to set PYTHONPATH automatically when you open a terminal window.

edited Sep 24 '13 at 20:27

Community

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answered May 09 '12 at 20:00

cmedeiros

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it compiles fine on the current version of homebrew, could you please edit your answer? – meduz Jan 30 '13 at 09:00
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Note you will have to install XQuartz (from MacOS Forge) before installing Meld. – Abhi Beckert Feb 18 '13 at 01:16
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Note this is a lengthy install, took about 14 minutes on my (Ivy Bridge) machine. – Steven Lu May 25 '13 at 23:42
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Note, for me, this still resulted in an error, which was addressed in this post on SuperUser: http://superuser.com/questions/455511/installing-meld-cannot-import-pygtk – Brad Parks Sep 13 '13 at 17:24
In 2015 with Meld 3.14.0, XQuartz was not required for install. GTK+ appears to be running on the native X server? I'm not sure, but I know I don't have XQuartz installed. – Johann Aug 19 '15 at 20:49
See Kirby's answer for the updated commands – Graham P Heath Oct 13 '15 at 23:56
This generates the following error: "Error: No available formula with the name "meld". It was migrated from homebrew/core to caskroom/cask. You can access it again by running: `brew tap caskroom/cask`." If users need to do something before `brew install meld`, you should say what. – Merchako May 01 '18 at 04:09
I was able to successfully install with the above but when I try to run it I get “Meld.app” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified. macos 11.2.3 big sur – Calvin Taylor Apr 09 '21 at 15:23

score 17 · Answer 3 · answered May 13 '16 at 09:59

17

On OSX El Captain you have just to run:

$ brew install homebrew/gui/meld

answered May 13 '16 at 09:59

Joao Luiz Cadore

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This is the most up-to-date answer. – Eric Dand Jul 13 '16 at 20:53
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currently this fails with `Warning: Use caskroom/cask/meld instead of deprecated homebrew/gui/meld` – jotadepicas Mar 03 '17 at 20:51
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@jotadepicas It does. Instead you can just use `brew install caskroom/cask/meld` and it works (note: I already had xquartz installed). – Declan McGrath Apr 16 '17 at 21:04

Daniel Beck · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-30T09:39:22.373

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When this question was asked, it was not possible using Homebrew. They didn't support it yet.

There are alternative solutions to installing meld on OS X:

Use a different package manager, like Fink, which is mentioned in meld's installation manual, or MacPorts, mentioned in the issue in Homebrew's issue tracker.

You can probably also compile from source, but need to get the dependencies yourself. Installing one of the other package managers might be easier than that.

edited Jan 30 '13 at 09:39

answered Nov 21 '11 at 22:51

Daniel Beck

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@meduz Changed the answer. Since I mention alternatives that used to work when this question was new, I decided against deleting the answer, as it might help those with the same issue with different software. – Daniel Beck Jan 30 '13 at 09:40
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as of today, the correct answer is below: http://superuser.com/a/1177575/404225 – jotadepicas Mar 03 '17 at 20:53
This answer is no longer correct. The OP should unaccept it. – Merchako Jan 25 '18 at 10:56
@Merchako Could you clarify why it's not correct? The first paragraph implies that it's (now) possible using Homebrew. Are the specific alternatives I provide no longer correct? – Daniel Beck Jan 25 '18 at 11:21
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@DanielBeck, perhaps I was too lose with my words. Sorry. I think this answer is no longer the most relevant (as the votes show). The OP really needs to demote it. Also, it would help if you changed your typesetting to differentiate the first line from your original answer; it would be easier to scan. – Merchako Jan 27 '18 at 04:19

Kirby · Answer 5 · 2015-06-12T16:21:36.870

I believe that the current correct brew commands are

brew install Caskroom/cask/xquartz
brew install homebrew/x11/meld

However after running those commands I ended with the following, which I know that I have overcome on other installations on different macs in the past.

Couldn't bind the translation domain. Some translations won't work.
'module' object has no attribute 'bindtextdomain'
/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/gtk-2.0/gtk/__init__.py:57: GtkWarning: could not open display
  warnings.warn(str(e), _gtk.Warning)
/usr/local/Cellar/meld/1.8.6/libexec/bin/meld:155: GtkWarning: gtk_icon_theme_get_for_screen: assertion 'GDK_IS_SCREEN (screen)' failed
  gtk.icon_theme_get_default().append_search_path(meld.paths.icon_dir())
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/meld/1.8.6/libexec/bin/meld", line 155, in <module>
    gtk.icon_theme_get_default().append_search_path(meld.paths.icon_dir())
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'append_search_path'

But this time I decided it wasn't worth my time since I couldn't remember the exact remedy.

Instead I found a simple DMG installer and script from Alex Kras to launch the Meld application installed by the DMG installer. The instructions are on his site. Note, though, that this DMG-installed version doesn't respond well to to the git mergetool input

I actually ended up abandoning the DMG version and went with the brew install. I could not get the DMG version to correctly understand git mergetool's output — Kirby, May 05 '15 at 22:09
On masOs Siera it just works w/o problem, **$> brew install Caskroom/cask/meld** ==> brew cask install Caskroom/cask/meld ==> Downloading https://github.com/yousseb/meld/releases/download/osx-9/meldmerge.dmg ######################################################################## 100.0% ==> Verifying checksum for Cask meld ==> Moving App 'Meld.app' to '/Applications/Meld.app' meld was successfully installed! — arty, Feb 09 '17 at 16:00

score 6 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 06 '15 at 18:08

6

Try this

brew install homebrew/x11/meld

or this

brew tap homebrew/x11
brew install meld

Meld is in Homebrew's X11 repository. Running brew tap homebrew/x11 allows Homebrew to see Meld in that repository. (2015 answer)

answered Aug 06 '15 at 18:08

Christian Long

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Once installed how does one use meld? – evolutionxbox Oct 22 '15 at 14:46
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@evolutionxbox, just type `meld` in your terminal – Roy Jan 15 '16 at 20:28
@Roy makes sense. Not sure why I never tried it – evolutionxbox Jan 15 '16 at 22:44
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`brew install homebrew/gui/meld` worked for me. Looks like the package was moved? – Gordon Gustafson Jun 08 '16 at 20:33

SmileBot · Answer 7 · 2016-11-06T13:46:24.753

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Don't install it using Brew. Do it this way instead. https://yousseb.github.io/meld/

Top reasons behind using this fork over Macports or Homebrew builds: Retina support (check the screenshot!) Latest 3.x series No hassle install (drag/drop like any other app) Integrates with OSX menu

edited Nov 06 '16 at 13:46

answered Sep 19 '16 at 20:19

SmileBot

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@mwfearnley Ok. I moved my comment to the answer. Cheers. – SmileBot Nov 06 '16 at 13:48

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 01 '17 at 11:59

2

It's been moved to Caskroom/cask, so run:

brew install Caskroom/cask/meld

answered Jun 01 '17 at 11:59

Chris Sherlock

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score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 11 '15 at 21:51

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As the formula for Homebrew disappeared i want to mention an alternative. There's this build as OS X application which is simple to install. It was last built in December '14 and requires some tweaks if you want to use it from the command line. I have not yet tried to figure out how.

answered Aug 11 '15 at 21:51

funky-future

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Thank you, this works. The homebrew business didn't work for me :-/, just complains about missing imports. Do you know how to make that app available from bash commad line? – Leo Ufimtsev Feb 20 '16 at 17:25

How to install Meld with Homebrew on Mac OSX?

9 Answers9

Homebrew

Other Homebrew Commands

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