# Install buildapp with Homebrew, apt

Creates executables with SBCL. Version 1.5.6 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-29. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install buildapp.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:buildapp
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install buildapp
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install buildapp
```

  Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: buildapp from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:buildapp
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.5.6
- **Source summary:** Creates executables with SBCL
- **Homepage:** <https://www.xach.com/lisp/buildapp/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/xach/buildapp>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-29T08:54:41+01:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- buildapp (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.5.6
## Project history and usage

Buildapp is a Common Lisp command-line tool by Zach Beane for creating executable images with SBCL or Clozure CL.

### Project history

Buildapp comes from the Common Lisp image-building tradition: instead of compiling a small native binary from scratch, it configures a Lisp image, loads code and ASDF systems, sets an entry point, and saves an executable. The official page compares it to `cl-launch` and hu.dwim.build.

The public release tags run through the 1.x series, and the official page lists 1.5.6 as the latest version released on November 7, 2015.

### Adoption history

Buildapp's adoption is niche but durable in Common Lisp packaging. It appears in Homebrew, Debian, and Ubuntu according to the input, reflecting its use as a small system tool for turning SBCL or CCL applications into command-line executables.

Its homepage examples show the kind of usage that made it handy before containerized deployment became common: single-file Lisp utilities, web-related command-line tools, and larger saved-image applications.

### How it is used

A typical invocation passes `--output`, one or more `--eval`, `--load-system`, or ASDF path options, and an `--entry` function. Buildapp then saves a runnable Lisp image that starts at that entry point.

It has no documented per-user credentials or configuration file location in the official docs.

### Why package nerds care

Buildapp is interesting because it packages the Lisp saved-image model as a Unix-friendly build command. For package maintainers, it turns a Lisp system into an executable artifact that can be installed like other CLI tools.

It also preserves a specific era of Common Lisp deployment practice, where ASDF systems, implementation-specific image saving, and small wrapper tools made Lisp programs feel more like conventional command-line software.

### Timeline

- 2000s: Buildapp emerged in the SBCL/CCL Common Lisp deployment ecosystem.
- 2010s: Public release tags progressed through the 1.4 and 1.5 series.
- 2015: Version 1.5.6 was released on November 7 according to the official homepage.

### Related projects

- SBCL and Clozure CL are the Lisp implementations named by the official page.
- `cl-launch` and hu.dwim.build are similar tools named by the official page.
- ASDF is part of the documented workflow for loading Lisp systems before saving an executable.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/xach/buildapp>
- <https://www.xach.com/lisp/buildapp>
- source_facts.package-manager


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - buildapp - 1.5.6-3+b1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: buildapp from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | application to create common lisp images | https://www.xach.com/lisp/buildapp/
- Ubuntu apt - buildapp - 1.5.6-3build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: buildapp from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | application to create common lisp images | https://www.xach.com/lisp/buildapp/


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/buildapp.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/buildapp.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph