Install xfig with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• xfig

Project history

The official Fig format documentation preserves Xfig's early authorship trail: FIG began in 1985 with Supoj Sutanthavibul, Brian V. Smith is credited for parts from 1989 onward, and Paul King for parts in 1991. That lineage fits Xfig's place as a classic X11 application: a mouse-driven Athena-widget-era drawing editor that survived because it produced useful technical diagrams in a scriptable, inspectable file format.

Xfig evolved with its file format and export pipeline. Fig format 3.2 added header fields such as paper size, magnification, multiple-page state, and transparent GIF color, and replaced older spline models with X-splines based on the SIGGRAPH 1995 spline model. Later user-visible evolution included autoconf-based builds, PDF and TikZ export workflows through fig2dev, embedded PDF/image handling, and Unicode-oriented text work in the 3.2.9 line.

Adoption history

Xfig became common in Unix and scientific communities because it sat between hand drawing and document build systems. The manual describes availability as pre-built packages across Linux distributions, BSDs, Darwin packaging systems, Cygwin, and Homebrew-era macOS, which is exactly the adoption pattern of old X11 tools that remain useful to technical users.

Its adoption is also visible in the surrounding ecosystem. The official installation page lists tools that read or write Fig files, including gnuplot, pstoedit, hp2xx, plotutils, and specialized utilities. That made the Fig format a practical interchange format for plots, diagrams, schematics, and document figures even when Xfig itself was only one step in the workflow.

How it is used

Typical use is interactive: run `xfig`, draw lines, boxes, splines, text, imported images, layers, and symbols, then save a `.fig` file. Export and print workflows rely on fig2dev, either invoked from Xfig or run separately, to produce formats suitable for papers, manuals, slides, web images, and TeX documents.

Package-manager users still care about Xfig because it is small, local, and file-oriented. A `.fig` file is text, easy to version, and easier to regenerate than a binary drawing document. For old papers, lab notes, network diagrams, and LaTeX projects, installing Xfig plus fig2dev is often the shortest path to opening or rebuilding legacy figures.

Why package nerds care

Xfig is package-nerd archaeology with practical teeth: an X11 GUI whose real contract is a durable file format and converter backend. It demonstrates how a graphical Unix program can remain package-worthy for decades when its files are text, its exporters are command-line friendly, and its output plugs into documentation toolchains.

It is also a reminder that GUI packages can be infrastructure. Downstream packages and users often need Xfig not for everyday drawing, but because a source tree, thesis, or engineering archive contains `.fig` files that must still render correctly.

Timeline

• 1985: FIG begins with Supoj Sutanthavibul, according to the official Fig format copyright notice.
• 1989: Brian V. Smith begins contributing parts of Xfig, as recorded in the official format documentation.
• 1991: Paul King contributes parts of the program, also recorded in the official format documentation.
• 1995: Fig 3.2 adopts X-splines, citing the SIGGRAPH 1995 X-splines paper.
• About 2016: the export companion package name changes from TransFig to fig2dev in the official installation guidance.
• 3.2.9 era: Xfig adds more modern text handling, including UTF-8 internal text for Fig files and anti-aliased canvas fonts.

Related projects

• fig2dev, formerly TransFig, is the converter backend that makes Xfig useful for print, bitmap, PDF, and TeX-oriented output.
• gnuplot, pstoedit, hp2xx, and GNU plotutils are related because they can produce, consume, or convert Fig-oriented technical graphics.
• Tgif, Ipe, and WinFIG occupy nearby territory as vector drawing tools for technical diagrams, X11-style workflows, or Fig-compatible editing.

Sources

• https://mcj.sourceforge.net/fig-format.html
• https://mcj.sourceforge.net/installation.html
• https://mcj.sourceforge.net/introduction.html
• https://mcj.sourceforge.net/new_features.html
• https://sourceforge.net/p/mcj/xfig/ci/master/tree