# file/file

Read-only mirror of file CVS repository, updated every half hour. NOTE: do not make pull requests here, nor comment any commits, submit them usual way to bug tracker or to the mailing list. Maintainer(s) are not tracking  this git mirror.

Repository: https://github.com/file/file
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/file
Homepage: http://www.darwinsys.com/file/
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-08-23T21:00:08+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5696, "days_push": 10, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1654, forks 454 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:17.772171+00:00)

## What it is
The classic Unix file(1) command and libmagic library that identifies file types by inspecting file contents and magic numbers rather than filename extensions. It is the standard file command shipped with most Linux and BSD distributions, and libmagic lets third-party programs detect file types in-process.

## Use cases
- identify what type of data a file contains from the command line
- detect file type by content instead of file extension
- embed file type detection in my application via a library
- get MIME type of an uploaded file
- validate that a file matches its claimed format
- detect file types in a Python program

## When to choose
- you need reliable content-based file type identification on Unix-like systems
- you want a battle-tested C library (libmagic) for file type detection in other software
- you need MIME type detection from actual file contents

## When to avoid
- you only need simple extension-based type checks without I/O overhead
- you need deep format parsing or metadata extraction rather than type identification
- you want a pure high-level-language solution without a C dependency

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: cli, parser, file-system, sdk
- domain: developer-tools, files
- platform: windows, bsd, cross-platform, cli, c
- tags: file-type-detection, magic-numbers, libmagic, mime-detection, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- file/file (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:17.772171+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:44:55.732356+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/file/file (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:17.772171+00:00, sha e08c54dbc794)
  - homepage: http://www.darwinsys.com/file/ (fetched 2026-08-29T11:17:48.671683+00:00, sha ee7c9198a3e1)
  - site_page: https://www.darwinsys.com/about (fetched 2026-08-29T11:17:48.674485+00:00, sha 8021cc55343e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.