Install jimtcl with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository

Commands and aliases

• build-jim-ext
• jimdb
• jimsh

Project history

Jim Tcl began in January 2005 as Salvatore Sanfilippo's experiment in hacking on Tcl. The project README says that after about a month it could run simple scripts, and after about two months it had grown beyond a disposable toy into a candidate real interpreter, with early contributions from Pat Thoyts and Clemens Hintze.

The project later developed into an embeddable interpreter with optional extensions, a modular build, and the `jimsh` command shell. Its copyright and maintainer notes show a wider contributor base by 2008 and Steve Bennett as maintainer, while the release stream and reference manual show continuing work through the 0.8x series.

Adoption history

Jim Tcl's most visible adoption came from embedded and systems tooling. OpenOCD documents that it uses Jim Tcl as its command interpreter, that OpenOCD configuration scripts are Jim Tcl scripts, and that OpenOCD commands extend Jim Tcl. That made Jim Tcl part of the toolchain used by developers working with on-chip debugging and microcontroller boards.

How it is used

Jim Tcl can be linked into applications with `cc <source> -ljim`, used interactively with `jimsh`, or used to run Tcl scripts from files, standard input, or `jimsh -e`. The README frames its use cases as scriptable applications, embedded systems, configuration-file-like syntax, and a compact Tcl implementation that can be shipped inside another program.

Why package nerds care

Jim Tcl is package-nerd catnip because it is a language runtime small enough to show up as both an application dependency and a standalone shell. It explains why some packages depend on `jimsh` or `jimtcl` rather than full Tcl: the value is a Tcl-like extension language in roughly hundreds of kilobytes, with feature selection controlled at build time.

Timeline

• 2005: Salvatore Sanfilippo started Jim Tcl in the first days of January; early contributors helped turn it into a beta-stage interpreter.
• 2008: Steve Bennett appears among project copyright holders and maintainer contacts in the README.
• 2023: Release 0.82 continued the 0.8x series with changes such as `try` traps, `aio stat`, async sockets, and richer frame support.
• 2024: Release 0.83 added changes including multi-level `break` and `continue`, fuller stack traces, `lsort -dict`, and additional I/O improvements.
• 2024: The reference manual identifies Jim Tcl v0.83+ and documents a Tcl 8.5+ compatible core plus selected Tcl 8.6 features.

Related projects

• Jim Tcl is directly related to Tcl, Tcl 8.5, Tcl 8.6, and the embeddable-language tradition represented by Lua and Guile. In packaging graphs it is also tied to OpenOCD, which uses Jim Tcl scripts and command extensions for debugger configuration.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/msteveb/jimtcl/releases?per_page=100
• https://github.com/msteveb/jimtcl
• https://jim.tcl-lang.org/home/doc/trunk/jim_tcl.txt
• https://jim.tcl.tk/
• https://openocd.org/doc/html/About-Jim-Tcl.html
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/msteveb/jimtcl/master/README