Install inform6 with Homebrew, Nix, MacPorts, apt

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• inform
• inform-6.44
• pblorb
• pblorb.pl
• punyinform
• punyinform-6.44
• punyinform.sh
• scanblorb
• scanblorb.pl

Project history

Inform dates to 1993 and became one of the defining authoring systems for parser-based interactive fiction. The Inform Designer's Manual, fourth edition, was published in 2001 and documented the Inform 6 language, library, and Z-machine-centered toolchain.

The Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation's Inform 6 addendum describes Inform 6 as stable for decades after the manual, with maintenance focused on reliability, Glulx support, compiler correctness, and compatibility with older source. It also notes Inform 6's role as an intermediate stage in the Inform 7 compiler pipeline.

Adoption history

The Inform manual's short history of interactive fiction says that from 1995 to 1999 the two widely used systems were TADS and Inform. That made Inform 6 part of the standard toolset for authors, interpreters, archives, and competition-era interactive fiction.

Later adoption became more archival and compiler-oriented: authors still write Inform 6 directly, while Inform 7 users may encounter it through generated code and the compiler backend. Alternative libraries such as PunyInform keep the toolchain useful for smaller targets and retro systems.

How it is used

The Homebrew package provides the `inform` compiler and related tools such as `pblorb` and `scanblorb`. Users compile `.inf` source into story files for Z-machine interpreters or Glulx, then package assets with Blorb tools when needed.

Inform 6 has no credentials or service configuration story; it is a compiler package. Its operational details are language options, include paths, target VM selection, and packaging tools.

Why package nerds care

Inform 6 is package-nerd catnip because it preserves a living compiler for a literary programming culture, a virtual-machine ecosystem, and decades of source compatibility. It is a small CLI package with unusually deep ties to language history, game preservation, and archive practice.

It also demonstrates why older language runtimes stay packaged: the executable is needed not only for new work, but also to rebuild, study, patch, and preserve historical interactive fiction.

Timeline

• 1993: Graham Nelson's Inform appeared as a system for creating adventure games.
• 1995-1999: Inform and TADS were the two widely used systems identified by the Inform manual's history section.
• 1999: The Inform library 6/9 was released with Inform 6.21.
• 2001: The fourth edition of The Inform Designer's Manual documented the Inform 6 system.
• 2004: Inform 6.30 added prominent compiler and Glulx-era improvements.
• 2020: The IFTF-maintained Inform 6 Reference Addendum began filling gaps left by the 2001 manual.

Related projects

• Related projects include Inform 7, the Z-machine, Glulx, the Inform library, PunyInform, metro84, Platypus, TADS, IF Archive, and Blorb tooling.

Sources

• https://github.com/DavidKinder/Inform6
• https://github.com/DavidKinder/Inform6/releases
• https://www.inform-fiction.org/manual/DM4.pdf
• https://www.inform-fiction.org/manual/I6-Addendum.html
• https://www.inform-fiction.org/manual/html/s46.html