apparix mit Homebrew, apt, MacPorts, Nix installieren

Projektlinks

• Homepage

Befehle und Aliase

• apparix

Projektgeschichte

The apparix README describes the project as starting around 2005 under the Apparix name, originally implemented in C with bash wrapper functions and tab completion. The current upstream says the C implementation later felt like a heavy tool for the job, and the project was reimplemented as a sourceable shell script.

Around 2018, the shell rewrite lived in the micans bash-utils repository under the apparish name. In early 2021 the maintainer restored the apparix name and moved the project into its own GitHub repository. The official micans.org project page now points users to that GitHub home page.

Adoptionsgeschichte

apparix has remained a niche but long-lived command-line navigation tool. Its Homebrew, Debian, MacPorts, Nix, and Ubuntu packaging matters because the project is fundamentally a shell workflow helper: it becomes useful when it is one package install and one shell-source line away.

The upstream history credits Sitaram Chamarty with the original subdirectory-completion idea and first bash implementation, Izaak van Dongen with zsh and completion work, and Martin Zuther with the related fish implementation appari-fish.

Wie es verwendet wird

The common workflow is to mark the current directory with `bm foo`, jump with `to foo`, and use completion for subdirectories under the mark. The bookmark data is stored in `$HOME/.apparixrc`, so marks are immediately shared across shell sessions.

Beyond jumping, apparix exposes small helper commands such as `ae`, `av`, `als`, `aget`, and `aput` for editing, viewing, listing, and copying files at bookmarked locations without manually `cd`-ing there.

Warum Paket-Nerds sich dafür interessieren

apparix sits in the same package-manager culture as cdargs, autojump, fasd, z, and zoxide, but it is older and more explicit: it stores named marks rather than ranking recent directories. That makes it interesting to shell-history nerds who prefer deterministic navigation over frecency heuristics.

The modern implementation is intentionally tiny: one sourceable shell file, no service, no daemon, and a plain user resource file. That gives packagers a low-maintenance CLI utility with high leverage for users who live in deep source trees.

Zeitleiste

• 2005: Upstream README says Apparix began around this time as a C program with bash wrappers.
• 2018: Shell reimplementation appeared in the maintainer's bash-utils work as apparish.
• 2021: Upstream restored the apparix name and moved the project to its own GitHub repository.

Related projects

• appari-fish is the related fish-shell implementation credited by upstream.
• The broader tool family includes cdargs-style named directory bookmarks and later shell jumpers such as autojump, fasd, z, and zoxide.

Quellen

• https://github.com/micans/apparix#readme
• https://micans.org/apparix