macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install swiglocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install swigMacPorts ports tree · devel/swig/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew
Install swig with Homebrew, apk, chocolatey, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, winget, zypper
Generate scripting interfaces to C/C++ code. Version 4.4.1 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add swigAlpine Linux edge package indexes · swig · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install swigDebian stable package indexes · swig · source: deb.debian.org
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install ccache-swigFedora Rawhide package metadata · ccache-swig · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#swignixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/sw/swig/package.nix · source: api.github.com
Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S swigArch Linux sync databases · swig · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install swigopenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · swig · source: download.opensuse.org
Windows
Chocolateyverified · 92%
choco install swigChocolatey community package catalog · swig · source: community.chocolatey.org
Scoopverified · 92%
scoop install main/swigScoop official bucket manifest trees · bucket/swig.json · source: api.github.com
Windows Package Managerverified · 92%
winget install --id SWIG.SWIG -eWindows Package Manager source index · SWIG.SWIG · source: cdn.winget.microsoft.com
overview
Package summary
Generate scripting interfaces to C/C++ code
Project links
Commands and aliases
- ccache-swig
- swig
history
Project history and usage
SWIG, the Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator, is a long-running tool for connecting C and C++ programs to higher-level languages. In package-manager culture it is a classic build dependency: old, portable, cross-language, and often installed because another package needs generated bindings.
Project history
SWIG began in July 1995 when Dave Beazley developed it at Los Alamos National Laboratory for scientific software that needed scripting interfaces. The official history says it was rewritten in C++ at the University of Utah in January 1996 and expanded beyond its original environment to Tcl, Perl, and Guile.
Version 1.0 arrived in September 1996 with Python support, followed by 1.1 in 1997. The long 1.3 development series began in 2000 and carried the project through a decade of incremental language and parser work before SWIG 2.0.0 was released in 2010.
Later major releases continued to track C++ and target-language evolution: 3.0.0 in 2014, 4.0.0 in 2019, 4.1.x in 2022, 4.2.x in 2023-2024, 4.3.x in 2024-2025, and 4.4.x in 2025.
Adoption history
The SWIG homepage describes support for common scripting languages including JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Tcl, and Ruby, plus non-scripting targets such as C#, D, Go, Java, Lua, OCaml, Octave, Scilab, R, and Guile. That breadth made it a general-purpose bridge for C and C++ libraries rather than a single-language extension tool.
The documentation page lists papers and tutorials from the 1996-1998 period and later training material, reflecting early adoption in Tcl, Python, Perl, scientific computing, and systems integration communities.
The input package facts show SWIG in many package managers, including apk, Homebrew, Chocolatey, Debian, DNF, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, Scoop, Ubuntu, winget, and zypper. That distribution footprint fits its role as a cross-platform tool needed by both developers and downstream package builds.
How it is used
SWIG is commonly used to parse C or C++ declarations and generate wrapper or glue code so higher-level languages can call native libraries. It is also used for prototyping, testing, embedding interpreters, and exporting parse information.
In package builds, SWIG often appears as a build-time dependency for projects that ship generated bindings for Python, Java, Ruby, Perl, Tcl, R, Octave, or other target languages.
Why package nerds care
SWIG is package-nerd significant because it is part compiler, part portability layer, and part historical artifact of scripting-language extension culture. It lets a C or C++ library become packages in multiple language ecosystems without hand-writing every binding layer.
Its long release history also matters operationally: old software may require old SWIG behavior, while new packages need modern C++, Python, JavaScript, Ruby, PHP, Go, or Java support. Distribution maintainers therefore care about which SWIG version is installed and when generated files are regenerated.
Timeline
- 1995: SWIG developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
- 1996: First alpha release and version 1.0 with Python support.
- 1997: Version 1.1 released.
- 2000: SWIG 1.3 alpha series begins.
- 2010: SWIG 2.0.0 released.
- 2014: SWIG 3.0.0 released.
- 2019: SWIG 4.0.0 released.
- 2022: SWIG 4.1.0 and 4.1.1 released.
- 2024: SWIG 4.2.x and 4.3.0 released.
- 2025: SWIG 4.3.1, 4.4.0, and 4.4.1 released.
Related projects
- Related technologies include Python extension modules, Perl XS, JNI, CFFI/ctypes-style foreign function interfaces, CORBA/IDL-style interface compilers, and package build systems that generate language bindings from C and C++ headers.
Sources
- https://www.swig.org/
- https://www.swig.org/compat.html
- https://www.swig.org/doc.html
- https://www.swig.org/history.html
- input.source_facts.package-manager
security posture
Risk level: green
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:no-higher-risk-signals
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 8 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
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
ccache-swig | cli | global executable | |
swig | cli | global 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 version4.4.1
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
- infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
- infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://www.swig.org/none confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:swig |
|---|---|
| Version | 4.4.1 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/swig |
| Homepage | https://www.swig.org/ |
| Repository | https://github.com/swig/swig |
| Upstream docs | https://www.swig.org/doc.html |
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Source archive | https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/swig/swig/swig-4.4.1/swig-4.4.1.tar.gz |
| Dependencies | pcre2 |
| Bottle | available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sequoia, sonoma, tahoe, x86_64_linux) |
| Homebrew post-install | not defined |
| Service | none declared |
registry facts
Source database details
| Source Database | Homebrew formula API |
|---|---|
| Tap | homebrew/core |
| Full Name | swig |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 0 |
| Head Version | HEAD |
| Bottle Stable Root URL | https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core |
| Deprecated | no |
| Disabled | no |
| Keg Only | no |
| URL Keys |
|
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
Debian apt95%
swig 4.3.0-1
Generate scripting interfaces to C/C++ code
sudo apt install swig- Section: interpreters
- Architecture: amd64
- 4 dependencies
- 2 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
Debian apt95%
swig-doc 4.3.0-1
HTML documentation for SWIG
sudo apt install swig-doc- Section: doc
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: swig
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
Debian apt95%
swig-examples 4.3.0-1
Examples for applications of SWIG
sudo apt install swig-examples- Section: interpreters
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: swig
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
Nix95%
swig
nix profile install nixpkgs#swig- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
Ubuntu apt95%
swig 4.2.0-2ubuntu1
Generate scripting interfaces to C/C++ code
sudo apt install swig- Section: universe/interpreters
- Architecture: amd64
- 4 dependencies
- 2 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
Ubuntu apt95%
swig-doc 4.2.0-2ubuntu1
HTML documentation for SWIG
sudo apt install swig-doc- Section: universe/doc
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: swig
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
Ubuntu apt95%
swig-examples 4.2.0-2ubuntu1
Examples for applications of SWIG
sudo apt install swig-examples- Section: universe/interpreters
- Architecture: all
- Source Package: swig
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
apk95%
swig 4.4.1-r1
A compiler that makes it easy to integrate C and C++ code with scripting languages
sudo apk add swig- License: GPL-3.0-only
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: swig
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
apk95%
swig-doc 4.4.1-r1
A compiler that makes it easy to integrate C and C++ code with scripting languages (documentation)
sudo apk add swig-doc- License: GPL-3.0-only
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: swig
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
dnf95%
ccache-swig 4.4.1-7.fc45
Fast compiler cache
sudo dnf install ccache-swig- License: GPL-2.0-or-later
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: swig
- 4 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
dnf95%
python3-swig 4.4.1-7.fc45
Python package metadata for SWIG
sudo dnf install python3-swig- License: GPL-3.0-or-later AND BSD-3-Clause
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: noarch
- Source Package: swig
- 2 dependencies
- 5 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
dnf95%
swig 4.4.1-7.fc45
Connects C/C++/Objective C to some high-level programming languages
sudo dnf install swig- License: GPL-3.0-or-later AND BSD-3-Clause
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: swig
- 5 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
dnf95%
swig-doc 4.4.1-7.fc45
Documentation files for SWIG
sudo dnf install swig-doc- License: BSD-3-Clause
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: noarch
- Source Package: swig
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
dnf95%
swig-gdb 4.4.1-7.fc45
Commands for easier debugging of SWIG
sudo dnf install swig-gdb- License: BSD-3-Clause
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: swig
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
pacman95%
swig 4.4.1-1
Generate scripting interfaces to C/C++ code
sudo pacman -S swig- License: GPL-3.0-or-later AND LicenseRef-BSD-Arizona AND LicenseRef-BSD-Chicago AND LicenseRef-BSD-Utah-California
- Architecture: x86_64
- 4 dependencies
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
zypper95%
swig 4.4.1-1.4
Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator
sudo zypper install swig- License: BSD-3-Clause AND GPL-3.0-or-later
- Category: Development/Languages/C and C++
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: swig
- 4 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Swig
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.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
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