Install include-what-you-use with Homebrew, apk, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• fix_includes.py
• include-what-you-use
• iwyu_tool.py

Project history

The project site announced a very-alpha 0.1 release in February 2011 and described an open-source release-early approach after Google-internal origins. Early releases tracked specific LLVM and Clang versions because IWYU depends heavily on Clang internals.

The release notes show a steady pattern: each IWYU release follows an LLVM/Clang line, updates mappings, and improves analysis of C, C++, templates, standard-library headers, and platform-specific headers. Version 0.5 in December 2015 marked migration to GitHub, updated documentation, improved testing infrastructure, and added Boost and Qt mappings.

Adoption history

IWYU spread through C++ build culture because include hygiene directly affects compile time, rebuild fan-out, and refactoring safety. The official documentation explicitly frames the tool around large codebases, where transitive includes make it hard to remove dependencies safely.

Package-manager metadata in this batch lists Homebrew, Alpine, Fedora, MacPorts, Nix, and openSUSE packaging. That is a good fit for a compiler-adjacent developer tool: users install a binary matching their Clang generation and wire it into compilation databases, CMake workflows, CI, or local cleanup scripts.

How it is used

IWYU is usually run against source files with the same compilation information used by Clang. The companion iwyu_tool.py works with compilation databases, and fix_includes.py can apply suggested include edits.

Its output is used during dependency cleanup, code-review preparation, CI checks, and large refactors where accidental reliance on another file's transitive include would otherwise hide missing direct dependencies.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, IWYU is significant because it turns a style rule into a compiler-backed CLI. It also illustrates a packaging challenge common to LLVM ecosystem tools: the useful binary has to stay aligned with Clang internals and therefore tends to move in lockstep with compiler releases.

It matters beyond neatness. Header dependency cleanup can shorten builds, reduce needless rebuilds, and make C++ packages less fragile when upstream headers change.

Timeline

• 2011: IWYU 0.1 announced as a very-alpha open-source release.
• 2011: Clang 2.9 and 3.0 compatible tarballs published.
• 2014: Clang 3.4 and 3.5 compatible releases published; rudimentary C support added in the 3.5-era release.
• 2015: IWYU 0.5 migrated to GitHub and added Boost and Qt mappings.
• 2019: Release notes stated that binary releases would no longer be produced and pointed users to maintained packages.
• 2026: IWYU 0.26 released for LLVM and Clang 22.

Related projects

• LLVM and Clang are the compiler infrastructure IWYU builds on.
• fix_includes.py and iwyu_tool.py are companion tools shipped by the project.
• CMake compilation databases, clang-tidy, and C++ include-order or dependency-cleanup workflows are adjacent developer-tooling surfaces.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/include-what-you-use/include-what-you-use/releases
• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/include-what-you-use
• https://github.com/include-what-you-use/include-what-you-use
• https://github.com/include-what-you-use/include-what-you-use/blob/master/docs/WhyIWYU.md
• https://include-what-you-use.org/
• input.json source_facts.package-manager