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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?

Misha Moroshko
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10 Answers10

135

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.

connorads
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Merchako
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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.

Community
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cmedeiros
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17

On OSX El Captain you have just to run:

$ brew install homebrew/gui/meld

Joao Luiz Cadore
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7

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.

Daniel Beck
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6

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

Kirby
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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)

Christian Long
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3

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

SmileBot
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2

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

brew install Caskroom/cask/meld
Chris Sherlock
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2

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.

funky-future
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0

The old cask for meld was disabled at the end of 2024

# brew install --cask meld                                                                       
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask.jws.json
Error: Cask 'meld' has been disabled because it is discontinued upstream! It was disabled on 2024-12-16.

Instead use this one

brew install --cask dehesselle-meld

Protip! You can use this as your git difftool

# This command assumes you are using the ZSH shell.
echo "alias meld='/Applications/Meld.app/Contents/MacOS/Meld'" >> ~/.zshrc

git config --global diff.tool meld
git config --global difftool.prompt false
git config --global difftool.meld.cmd "/Applications/Meld.app/Contents/MacOS/Meld $LOCAL $REMOTE"

Thanks to René de Hesselle @dehesselle.

More at https://gitlab.com/dehesselle/meld_macos

Gourneau
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