imake mit Homebrew, apk, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper installieren

Projektlinks

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream-Dokumentation
• Paketmanager-Seite

Befehle und Aliase

• ccmakedep
• cleanlinks
• imake
• makeg
• mergelib
• mkdirhier
• mkhtmlindex
• revpath
• xmkmf

Projektgeschichte

The X Window System used imake extensively through X11R6.9 for both builds inside the X source tree and external software. X.Org's release notes describe the X11R7.x shift to modular source releases, and the imake README states that X moved to GNU autoconf and automake for X11R7.0 and later releases in 2005.

As a standalone X.Org utility package, imake includes helper programs such as `ccmakedep`, `mergelib`, `revpath`, `mkdirhier`, `makeg`, `cleanlinks`, `mkhtmlindex`, and `xmkmf`. Its README also notes that most real usage needs the X.Org `util/cf` files, which provide platform-specific configuration data.

Adoptionsgeschichte

imake's adoption story is almost inverted: it was once central to building X and X applications, then became legacy infrastructure after X.Org modularization and the move to Autotools. Package managers continue to carry it because old external X11 software and vendor source packages can still depend on Imakefiles and `xmkmf`.

X.Org maintainers explicitly advise projects still using imake to migrate to build systems that add support for new platforms and runtimes. The 2025 imake 1.0.11 announcement still added RISC-V and LoongArch Linux support, illustrating the maintenance pressure created by old build recipes on newer architectures.

Wie es verwendet wird

imake preprocesses Imakefiles into makefiles using X.Org configuration templates, with `xmkmf` commonly used by external packages to generate build files. The support tools cover dependency generation, directory creation, library merging, path calculation, and HTML index generation.

The practical package-manager use is compatibility: install imake and the X.Org configuration files when a legacy X11 source package asks for Imakefile processing rather than `configure`, Meson, or CMake.

Warum Paket-Nerds sich dafür interessieren

imake is package-nerd archaeology with real build consequences. It explains why some ports collections and formulas still preserve X11 support utilities long after the main upstream ecosystem moved through Autotools and toward Meson.

Zeitleiste

• 1988: X11 version 11 was first released, forming the protocol era in which imake became important.
• 2005: X11R7.0 moved X.Org builds to GNU autoconf and automake.
• 2012: X11R7.7 was described as the eighth modular X Window System release.
• 2025: imake 1.0.11 added Linux RISC-V and LoongArch support plus Meson build support.
• 2026: Homebrew packages imake 1.0.11 for legacy X11 build compatibility.

Related projects

• imake is closely tied to X.Org `util/cf`, `xmkmf`, Autotools-era X.Org modular builds, and newer Meson migration work. Its historical peers are the broader X11 utility and build-support packages distributed from X.Org's individual module archives.

Quellen

• https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/imake.json
• https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/util/imake
• https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/util/imake/-/raw/master/README.md
• https://lists.x.org/archives/xorg-announce/2025-December/003650.html
• https://www.x.org/archive/X11R7.7/doc/xorg-docs/ReleaseNotes.txt