Install xqilla with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• xqilla

Project history

SourceForge records XQilla as registered on 2005-10-31, and describes it as an XQuery and XPath 2.0 library written in C++ and built on Xerces-C. That origin places it during the period when XQuery and XPath 2.0 were becoming serious standards for XML databases, document repositories, and application servers.

The repository README is intentionally terse: XQilla is a C++ implementation of XQuery and XPath 2.0 based on Xerces-C, and its build instructions start by building a Xerces-C source distribution before configuring XQilla against it. That dependency shaped its audience: C++ developers already in the Xerces/XML stack.

Repository history shows long maintenance rather than constant redesign. SourceForge lists branches for xqilla_1_0, xqilla_1_1, xqilla_2_1, xqilla_2_2, and xqilla_2_3, with later tree activity by Lauren Foutz in 2015-2018 and historical work by John Snelson in documentation, TODOs, and parser/runtime internals.

Adoption history

XQilla's adoption has been specialized but durable. It appears in package collections such as Debian, FreshPorts, Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, Conan Center, and CERN LCG package metadata because it provides a C++ XQuery/XPath implementation where embedding and command-line evaluation both matter.

The project never became a general-purpose shell text tool like jq. Its significance is in XML-heavy systems: standards testing, database-adjacent XML querying, C++ applications that already use Xerces-C, and environments that need a packaged xqilla executable for XQuery or XPath 2.0 evaluation.

How it is used

The Homebrew formula exposes the xqilla executable as an XQuery and XPath 2 command-line interpreter. In practical use, users run queries over XML documents or embed the library in C++ code that needs XQuery/XPath 2.0 support on top of Xerces-C parsing.

Build-time usage is more old-school than many modern CLIs: the upstream README expects users to build Xerces-C, then configure XQilla with --with-xerces pointing to that build. That makes it familiar to C/C++ package maintainers and less casual for one-off users.

Why package nerds care

XQilla is package-nerd significant because it preserves a serious XML standards implementation from the SourceForge era. It is not trendy, but it fills a hard-to-replace niche for C++ XQuery and XPath 2.0 users.

It also illustrates why package managers carry libraries and tiny interpreters that most users never install directly: old XML stacks, scientific software, enterprise tools, and standards testbeds can depend on them for years.

Timeline

• 2005-10-31: SourceForge lists XQilla's project registration date.
• 2008-11-28: Repository history shows XQC API documentation and examples added.
• 2011-10-31: SourceForge files area shows the historical xqilla directory timestamp.
• 2015-05-19: SourceForge lists XQilla 2.3.1 archives.
• 2018-07-03: SourceForge lists XQilla 2.3.4 archives.
• 2018-07-12: SourceForge records the project's last update date.

Related projects

• Xerces-C: the XML parser foundation XQilla builds on.
• eXist-db and Zorba: neighboring XML database and XQuery processor projects listed near XQilla on SourceForge.
• Berkeley DB XML and mod_dbxml: related XML database tooling in the same historical ecosystem.

Sources

• https://conan.io/center/recipes/xqilla
• https://lcginfo.cern.ch/pkgver/xqilla/2.3.4/100_nxcals_testbed
• https://packages.debian.org/sid/text/xqilla
• https://sourceforge.net/p/xqilla/xqilla/ci/default/tree/
• https://sourceforge.net/projects/xqilla/
• https://sourceforge.net/projects/xqilla/files/
• https://www.freshports.org/textproc/xqilla/