Automic VaultAutomic Vault

brew

Install snobol4 with Homebrew, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper

String oriented and symbolic programming language. Version 2.3.4 via Homebrew; verified 2026-05-12.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install snobol4

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install snobol4

MacPorts ports tree · lang/snobol4/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install snobol4

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · snobol4 · source: dl.fedoraproject.org

Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#snobol4

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/sn/snobol4/package.nix · source: api.github.com

openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install snobol4

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · snobol4 · source: download.opensuse.org

overview

Package summary

String oriented and symbolic programming language

Commands and aliases

  • sdb-2.3.4
  • snobol4
  • snobol4-2.3.4
  • snopea
  • snopea-2.3.4

history

Project history and usage

CSNOBOL4 is Phil Budne's maintained C port of the original Bell Labs Macro SNOBOL4 implementation, preserving a historically important string-processing language in a form that modern Unix package managers can build and ship.

Project history

The SNOBOL family began at Bell Labs in 1962, with SNOBOL4 work beginning in 1966 as a portable macro implementation written in SIL. The Regressive.org history page describes Macro SNOBOL4 as having been ported to more than 50 systems, making portability part of the language's culture from early on.

CSNOBOL4 carries that lineage forward by translating the Macro SNOBOL4 implementation to C. Its README describes it as a free port of the original SIL macro version, developed at Bell Labs, with dynamic typing, garbage collection, user data types, and on-the-fly compilation. The current release page lists CSNOBOL4 2.3.4 in April 2026 and notes support for the full SNOBOL4 language plus BLOCKS, SPITBOL, and other extensions.

Adoption history

The supplied package metadata lists CSNOBOL4 as available through Homebrew, Fedora/dnf, MacPorts, Nix, and openSUSE/zypper. That distribution footprint is the practical reason many modern users encounter SNOBOL4: not as an active mainstream language, but as a preserved runtime available from the same package managers used for contemporary developer tools.

How it is used

The package installs the `snobol4` interpreter along with related tools such as `sdb` and `snopea`. It is used for running legacy SNOBOL4 programs, studying pattern matching and symbolic programming, and experimenting with extensions documented in the CSNOBOL4 manual pages.

Why package nerds care

CSNOBOL4 matters to package nerds because it is living software archaeology: a 1960s language implementation lineage maintained with modern C portability, manual pages, release notes, and a GitHub issue tracker. It gives package collections a compact way to keep a historically significant programming environment installable.

Timeline

  • 1962: First SNOBOL language developed at Bell Labs.
  • 1966: Work on SNOBOL4 began with portability as an explicit goal.
  • 1993: CSNOBOL4 copyright history begins in the official README.
  • 2025: CSNOBOL4 2.3.3 released on the 50th anniversary of SNOBOL4 V3.11.
  • 2026: CSNOBOL4 2.3.4 released on the 60th anniversary of SNOBOL4 first running on the IBM 7094.

Related projects

  • Related historical implementations include Macro SNOBOL4, SPITBOL, SITBOL, FASBOL, Catspaw SNOBOL4+, Minnesota SNOBOL4, and Oregon SNOBOL5, many of which are cataloged from the Regressive.org SNOBOL4 resources page.

security posture

Risk level: yellow

generalized runtime or code generation signal.

Risk classifier

yellow risk · medium confidence · runtime

Why

  • generalized runtime or code generation signal

Signals

  • text:programming language

Install behavior

  • No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
  • Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
  • Installs with 1 runtime dependencies.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

CommandKindExposureNote
sdb-2.3.4cliglobal executable
snobol4cliglobal executable
snobol4-2.3.4cliglobal executable
snopeacliglobal executable
snopea-2.3.4cliglobal executable

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-07-08
manager version2.3.4
manager updated2026-05-12
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected

https://www.regressive.org/snobol4/

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:snobol4
Version2.3.4
Package managerHomebrew
Package manager pagehttps://formulae.brew.sh/formula/snobol4
Homepagehttps://www.regressive.org/snobol4/
Repositoryhttps://github.com/philbudne/csnobol4
Upstream docshttps://www.regressive.org/snobol4/csnobol4/curr
LicenseBSD-2-Clause
Source archivehttps://ftp.regressive.org/snobol/snobol4-2.3.4.tar.gz
Last updated2026-05-12T21:47:11Z
Pulseupdated
Dependenciesopenssl@4
Uses from macOSlibffi, sqlite
Bottleavailable (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-installnot defined
Servicenone declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source DatabaseHomebrew formula API
Taphomebrew/core
Full Namesnobol4
Version Scheme0
Revision0
Conflicts With
  • sdb
Bottle Stable Root URLhttps://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecatedno
Disabledno
Keg Onlyno
URL Keys
  • stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Nix95%

snobol4

nix profile install nixpkgs#snobol4
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Snobol4
nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/sn/snobol4/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
dnf95%

snobol4 2.3.1-8.fc44

A port of Macro SNOBOL4

https://www.regressive.org/snobol4/csnobol4/curr/

sudo dnf install snobol4
  • License: BSD-2-Clause AND BSD-3-Clause AND BSD-4-Clause AND ISC
  • Category: Unspecified
  • Architecture: i686
  • Source Package: snobol4
  • 13 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Snobol4
Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: snobol4 from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst
dnf95%

snobol4-devel 2.3.1-8.fc44

Development files for snobol4

https://www.regressive.org/snobol4/csnobol4/curr/

sudo dnf install snobol4-devel
  • License: BSD-2-Clause AND BSD-3-Clause AND BSD-4-Clause AND ISC
  • Category: Unspecified
  • Architecture: i686
  • Source Package: snobol4
  • 1 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Snobol4
Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: snobol4-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst
zypper95%

snobol4 2.3.1-2.9

A port of Macro SNOBOL4

https://www.regressive.org/snobol4/csnobol4/curr/

sudo zypper install snobol4
  • License: BSD-2-Clause
  • Category: Unspecified
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: snobol4
  • 12 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Snobol4
openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: snobol4 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst
zypper95%

snobol4-devel 2.3.1-2.9

Development files for snobol4

https://www.regressive.org/snobol4/csnobol4/curr/

sudo zypper install snobol4-devel
  • License: BSD-2-Clause
  • Category: Unspecified
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: snobol4
  • 1 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Snobol4
openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: snobol4-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst
MacPorts95%

snobol4

sudo port install snobol4
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Snobol4
MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: lang/snobol4/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

Related tools

  • openssl@4Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew.

Same workflow

  • gravityShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, interpreter, language-runtime, programming-language, runtime.
  • algol68gShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, interpreter, language-runtime, programming-language.
  • gnu-aplShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, interpreter, language-runtime, programming-language.
  • iconShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, language-runtime, programming-language, runtime.
  • latinoShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, interpreter, language-runtime, programming-language.
  • luaShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, interpreter, language-runtime, programming-language.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Used sources

  • Geiger risk classifier
  • Nucleus package database
  • av.db category and tag curation
  • cross-ecosystem install command graph
  • curated package history
  • external package-manager database matches
  • package relationship graph
  • package version freshness
  • package-page enrichment