On March 20, 2026, the Gerbv project published v2.13.0 — and for a small open-source Gerber viewer, it was a landmark release. In the project’s own release-note words: “We have two new platforms that we build for (native Windows and MacOS)”, and “We are now packaging one of the Windows builds using NSIS”. For the first time, a Gerbv release ships ready-to-run builds for Windows and macOS next to the Linux packages, ending years in which Windows users depended on third-party builds and Mac users had no official binary at all. This article sticks strictly to what the release itself and the project’s documentation verify — what shipped, why it arrived when it did, and where to get it.
What actually shipped in v2.13.0
The release attaches six assets on GitHub Releases, covering every supported platform:
- Windows installer: gerbv-2.13.0-win64.exe — 15,062,430 bytes — NSIS-packaged, cross-compiled from Fedora — download
- Windows portable ZIP: gerbv_v2.13.0_.Windows.MSYS2.UCRT64.zip — 17,962,489 bytes — built natively with MSYS2 — download
- macOS ZIP: gerbv_v2.13.0_.macOS.zip — 6,795,082 bytes — the first official macOS build in a release (a ZIP, not a DMG) — download
- Ubuntu 22.04 .deb: 4,267,552 bytes — download
- Debian 13 .deb: 4,263,454 bytes — download
- Fedora 43 .rpm: 2,290,118 bytes — download
Every asset carries a published SHA-256 digest in the release metadata; the full table with all six checksums is on the download page. The Windows builds are 64-bit, with Windows 10 as the tested target. The two Windows variants are the release’s signature detail: one build cross-compiled on Fedora and delivered through an NSIS installer for a conventional setup experience, and one built natively on Windows under MSYS2 and delivered as an extract-and-run ZIP for portable use — the subject of our portable build guide. The macOS build had existed in the project’s CI during the previous release cycle, but v2.13.0 is where the macOS files first became part of the public release.
Why 2026? The revival context
To see why this release matters, look at the timeline around it. Gerbv, a GPL-2.0-or-later viewer for Gerber RS-274X, Excellon drill and CSV pick-and-place files from the gEDA project family, had been quiet for a long time: v2.10.0 shipped in August 2023, and then no new release appeared for roughly two and a half years. The project was not formally abandoned, but from the outside it looked dormant. Then, in three weeks in early 2026, four stable releases landed. v2.11.0 (February 28, 2026) was the first release after a rewrite of the build system to CMake, and it already restructured distribution: a .deb for Debian and Ubuntu, an .rpm for Red Hat/Fedora, and a .zip for Windows. v2.11.1 (March 2) followed as a quick stabilisation release. v2.12.0 (March 8) then delivered functional news: DXF export became built in on all platforms (previously it depended on how the build was configured), and a new optimised SVG export arrived with optional Inkscape layers. v2.13.0 capped the sequence by completing the platform story with the native Windows and macOS release builds. The full chronology, including the SourceForge era, is in our version history.
What did not change
Just as important for existing users: v2.13.0 is the same Gerbv underneath. The interface still runs on GTK 2 with Cairo rendering — the GTK 3 port remains on the maintainer’s plan, not in this release. The format story is unchanged: RS-274X is the core format, Excellon drill and CSV pick-and-place files are supported, and legacy RS-274D is explicitly not supported. It remains a 2D viewer with layer stacking, transparency, measurement and report windows — not a PCB editor, with no 3D view and no design-rule or DFM checking. Export covers PNG, PDF, PS, SVG, RS-274X, drill formats and DXF. Saying this plainly matters: the 2026 releases modernised how Gerbv is built and distributed, and added real export improvements in 2.12.0, but they did not turn it into a different kind of tool.
For builders: the CMake foundation underneath
The platform story was possible because of the build-system work that landed first. Since the CMake transition, Gerbv builds with CMake presets and the Ninja build tool; the project’s BUILD.md documents presets including linux-gnu-gcc, macos-clang, mingw-w64-gcc and msys2-ucrt64-gcc — a list that maps almost one-to-one onto the six release assets above. The README’s build requirements are correspondingly concrete: a C compiler, the gtk+-2.0 and glib-2.0 development packages, CMake 3.28 or newer, and Ninja. Most users should never need any of this — the release binaries exist precisely so that viewing a Gerber file does not start with a compile — but the preset list is the clearest evidence that native Windows and macOS output in 2.13.0 is a designed feature of the new build system, not a one-off experiment.
Getting v2.13.0
All six assets are on the official GitHub release, and this site’s download page links each one through its /go/ shortcut with sizes and SHA-256 checksums for verification. Platform guides walk through the details: installing on Windows (including SmartScreen and checksum verification), installing on macOS (the ZIP, Gatekeeper, and the Homebrew option — brew install gerbv, which tracks 2.13.0), and installing on Linux with the .deb and .rpm packages. Activity has continued since the release — the project’s CI binaries were rebuilt in August 2026 — so “revived and between releases” is the fair summary of where Gerbv stands.
Frequently asked questions
When was Gerbv 2.13.0 released?
March 20, 2026. It is the latest stable release, following v2.12.0 (March 8, 2026), v2.11.1 (March 2, 2026) and v2.11.0 (February 28, 2026) in the project’s 2026 revival.
What is new in Gerbv 2.13.0?
The first native Windows and macOS builds in a public release: an NSIS-packaged Windows installer, a native MSYS2 Windows ZIP, and an official macOS ZIP, alongside the Ubuntu/Debian .deb and Fedora .rpm packages.
Is there a macOS DMG or a 32-bit Windows build in 2.13.0?
No. The macOS artifact is a .zip, and both Windows builds are 64-bit only. Windows 7 remains supported only up to Gerbv 2.8.0.