Install fig2dev with Homebrew, apk, apt, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper, dnf

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• fig2dev
• fig2ps2tex
• pic2tpic
• transfig

Project history

The official README describes fig2dev as a set of tools for creating TeX documents with portable graphics. The package consists of the fig2dev command and the transfig command; fig2dev performs the actual translation from Fig code, while transfig generates TeX macro and Makefile support for documents that include figures.

The historical package name matters. The Xfig installation guide says users needed both xfig and fig2dev to be complete, and that until about 2016 the fig2dev package was called transfig. The README now says transfig is considered obsolete and is not built by default unless explicitly enabled.

The CHANGES file shows a long maintenance history from the Transfig 2.1 series in the early 1990s through modern fig2dev 3.2 patchlevels. Recent releases emphasize input hardening, portability fixes, UTF-8 output, Darwin/BSD build fixes, and output improvements for formats such as PDF, EPS, SVG, and TikZ.

Adoption history

fig2dev's adoption followed xfig's role as a Unix/X11 drawing program used in technical and academic workflows. The official installation page states that binary packages for xfig and fig2dev or transfig are available for Linux distributions, BSD systems, Darwin package systems including Fink, MacPorts, and Homebrew, and Cygwin on Windows.

The supplied package metadata shows the same broad packaging pattern: Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora-family packaging under transfig, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, Alpine, and openSUSE. That breadth reflects fig2dev's importance as infrastructure for converting legacy .fig drawings in reproducible document builds.

How it is used

Users normally encounter fig2dev when exporting or printing drawings made in xfig. The installation guide explains that xfig saves proprietary .fig files and fig2dev translates them to formats such as PostScript, PNG, JPEG, PSTricks, and TikZ.

For bitmap outputs, the README and installation guide both document fig2dev's dependency on helper tools: Ghostscript first renders PostScript, then netpbm, ImageMagick, or GraphicsMagick converts PPM output to final bitmap formats.

Why package nerds care

fig2dev is package-nerd significant because it preserves a durable bridge between an old X11 vector editor and modern document toolchains. It is the kind of utility that rarely gets attention until a build farm, LaTeX paper, man-page diagram, or legacy source tarball still depends on converting .fig files.

It is also a good example of package naming archaeology: many systems historically shipped the converter as transfig, while modern curation and upstream documentation distinguish fig2dev from the now-obsolete transfig command.

Timeline

• 1993: Transfig 2.1.8 appears in the CHANGES history.
• About 2016: Official installation docs say the package name moved from transfig to fig2dev.
• 2018: fig2dev 3.2.7 adds format help and input-sanitizing fixes.
• 2021: 3.2.8b adds stdin/stdout filename handling and more hardening.
• 2024: 3.2.9a adds PDF minor-version selection and width/height options.

Related projects

• fig2dev is tightly coupled to xfig. It also depends on or cooperates with Ghostscript, netpbm, ImageMagick, GraphicsMagick, TeX, LaTeX, PSTricks, and TikZ workflows.

Sources

• https://sourceforge.net/p/mcj/fig2dev/ci/master/tree/README
• https://sourceforge.net/p/mcj/fig2dev/ci/master/tree/CHANGES
• https://mcj.sourceforge.net/installation.html