cdecl mit Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper installieren

Projektlinks

• Homepage
• Upstream-Dokumentation
• Paketmanager-Seite

Befehle und Aliase

• c++decl
• cdecl

Projektgeschichte

The upstream README says cdecl was originally written by Graham Ross sometime in the mid-1980s, and that Tony Hansen posted source with his changes to comp.sources.unix in 1988. The AUTHORS file records a long chain of contributors who added ANSI C, C++ declarations, GNU readline support, Apple blocks, and modern C/C++ language support.

Paul J. Lucas's maintained codebase was created on GitHub in 2017. The README says this codebase fixes deficiencies in earlier versions and adds many features, including Autotools, long options, modern C and C++ language distinctions through C23/C++26, macro expansion, better diagnostics, and extensive type support.

Adoptionsgeschichte

cdecl is one of those small developer tools that survives because C declarator syntax remains hard to read. The Homebrew input records packages in Homebrew, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, MacPorts, Nix, and openSUSE-family packaging, matching its role as a long-running Unix developer aid.

Wie es verwendet wird

Users can run cdecl interactively, pass declarations on the command line, read standard input, or invoke it as c++decl. It explains declarations such as pointers to arrays and emits declarations from English-like commands. The current version also expands macros step by step for preprocessor debugging.

Warum Paket-Nerds sich dafür interessieren

cdecl is package-nerd catnip because it carries living Unix history: mid-1980s origins, 1988 Usenet distribution, unclear inherited source licensing, and modern maintenance that teaches new C and C++ standards to an old interface. It is tiny, weird, useful, and exactly the sort of program distributions keep around.

Zeitleiste

• Mid-1980s: Original cdecl written by Graham Ross, according to the upstream README.
• 1988: Tony Hansen posted source with changes to comp.sources.unix.
• 2017: Paul J. Lucas's current GitHub repository created.
• 2018-2026: NEWS records maintained user-visible changes in the modern series.
• 2026: NEWS for Cdecl 18.8 records updated XDG configuration paths.

Related projects

• The program includes cdecl and c++decl entry points and is historically related to explain, cast, and declare-style links mentioned in the AUTHORS file. Its modern feature set tracks C and C++ language standards rather than depending on a large plugin ecosystem.

Quellen

• https://api.github.com/repos/paul-j-lucas/cdecl
• https://github.com/paul-j-lucas/cdecl
• https://github.com/paul-j-lucas/cdecl#readme
• https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/cdecl.json
• https://github.com/paul-j-lucas/cdecl/blob/master/AUTHORS
• https://github.com/paul-j-lucas/cdecl/blob/master/NEWS
• https://github.com/paul-j-lucas/cdecl/blob/master/share/man/man1/cdecl.1