Install aklomp-base64 with Homebrew, apk, chocolatey, MacPorts, scoop

Project links

• Homepage
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• base64

Project history

The public GitHub repository was created in September 2013. The README says that, at the time of original release, the author believed it was the only Base64 library offering SIMD acceleration, and links to the author's article explaining a SIMD approach to Base64 encoding and decoding.

Over time the project accumulated multiple optimized codecs: SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, AVX512, NEON, AArch64/NEON, plain 32/64-bit fallback routines, and optional OpenMP parallelism. The README records contributions and influence from Inkymail's fork and Wojciech Mula's SIMD Base64 work.

Adoption history

The project is packaged across several ecosystems in the supplied input facts: Homebrew as `aklomp-base64`, Alpine as `base64`, Chocolatey as `base64`, MacPorts as `base64`, and Scoop as `main/base64`.

Its adoption is mostly among users who need a faster streaming Base64 implementation or a small embeddable C library rather than among users seeking a new interface. The README emphasizes a self-contained object file, a matching C header, and a standalone test binary compatible with the system utility style.

How it is used

As a command-line tool, it reads and writes streaming Base64 data in the spirit of existing Unix `base64` programs. As a library, callers include `include/libbase64.h` and link `lib/libbase64.o` or their own build product.

The code chooses optimized codecs at runtime on x86, can be compiled with feature-specific flags, and exposes flags such as `BASE64_FORCE_AVX2`, `BASE64_FORCE_NEON64`, and `BASE64_FORCE_PLAIN` for testing or explicit selection.

Why package nerds care

This is the sort of package that package managers preserve because a tiny boring utility hides a lot of CPU-specific detail. The interesting part is not the command syntax; it is the portable packaging of SIMD code paths, runtime dispatch, and a fallback that still works on plain C99 targets.

The Homebrew formula name is also notable: `aklomp-base64` distinguishes this implementation from the platform-provided `base64`, which is exactly the naming problem binary package managers run into with faster replacements for POSIX-ish tools.

Timeline

• 2013: Public GitHub repository created.
• Original release period: README says the project was, to the author's knowledge, the only SIMD-accelerated Base64 library.
• Later: AVX2, NEON, AArch64/NEON, AVX512, and OpenMP paths are documented in the README.
• 2025: Repository metadata shows continued maintenance activity.

Related projects

• Inkymail/base64: fork credited for original AVX2, NEON, and AArch64/NEON codec contributions.
• Wojciech Mula's Base64 SIMD work: source of optimizations and AVX512 encoder basis credited in the README.
• System `base64` utilities: the behavioral comparison point for the standalone binary.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/aklomp/base64
• https://github.com/aklomp/base64
• input source_facts.package-manager