Install harbour with Homebrew, winget

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• harbour
• hb3rdpat.hbs
• hbi18n
• hbmk2
• hbpp
• hbtest

Project history

The official Harbour FAQ says the idea of a free software Clipper compiler had circulated in the comp.lang.clipper community, and that actual development began in early 1999 when Antonio Linares started discussing a Clipper grammar built with Lex and Yacc.

The official homepage describes Harbour as a cross-platform, multi-threading, object-oriented, scriptable language implementation with compiler and runtime libraries, UI/database/I/O backends, its own build system, and bindings for popular APIs.

The homepage lists a stable 3.0.0 release dated 2011-07-17, while the GitHub repository remains the official source-control location for the core implementation.

Adoption history

Harbour's audience is narrower than a mainstream language runtime: it serves developers maintaining or modernizing CA-Clipper, dBase, FoxPro-like, and other xBase-family code. Its value is continuity for business/database applications that can be compiled and run on newer operating systems.

The supplied package facts show a small package-manager footprint, which fits a specialist language environment rather than a foundational system dependency.

How it is used

Users write or port xBase/Clipper-style source, compile it with Harbour tools, and link against Harbour runtime libraries and optional UI, database, networking, crypto, compression, or platform bindings.

The Homebrew package exposes compiler and tool executables such as `harbour`, `hbmk2`, `hbpp`, `hbi18n`, and `hbtest`, making it useful for rebuilding legacy applications or experimenting with xBase code on macOS.

Why package nerds care

Harbour is notable to package collectors because it preserves a business-programming lineage that otherwise belongs to DOS and early PC database tooling. It is a compatibility bridge, not just another compiler.

Packaging such a toolchain means caring about C compiler interoperability, runtime library layout, build helper tools, and cross-platform assumptions carried forward from Clipper-era source code.

Timeline

• 1999: Official FAQ says actual Harbour development began in early 1999.
• 2000s: Harbour grows into a compiler plus runtime libraries, backends, build tooling, and API bindings.
• 2011-07-17: Official homepage lists Harbour 3.0.0 stable release.
• 2020s: Official GitHub repository hosts Harbour core as a portable xBase-compatible language and environment.

Related projects

• Related projects and technologies include CA-Clipper, dBase, FoxPro, xHarbour, xBase++, FlagShip, DBF file tooling, and GUI libraries used by Harbour applications.
• Harbour also relates to C compilers because Harbour-generated or Harbour-linked programs depend on the platform C toolchain.

Sources

• https://github.com/harbour/core
• https://harbour.github.io/
• https://harbour.github.io/doc/
• https://harbour.github.io/faq