# Install kawa with Homebrew, dnf, Nix

Programming language for Java (implementation of Scheme). Version 3.1.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-22. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#kawa.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:kawa
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install kawa
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- dnf (92%):

```sh
sudo dnf install kawa
```

  Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: kawa from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/07190dc5ae9f35ae73866675fed6d95fe6e8d9fe22c9d7cdf85862cb2ed24a4c-primary.xml.zst

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#kawa
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ka/kawa/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:kawa
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 3.1.1
- **Source summary:** Programming language for Java (implementation of Scheme)
- **Homepage:** <https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-22T14:03:52-07:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- kawa (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 3.1.1
## Project history and usage

Kawa is a GNU Scheme implementation and language framework for the Java Virtual Machine, combining a Scheme REPL and compiler with close access to Java classes and bytecode.

### Project history

The official Kawa internals paper, started from a November 1998 presentation, describes Kawa as a set of Java classes for implementing dynamic languages and as a near-R5RS Scheme implementation that compiles to JVM bytecode.

Kawa evolved beyond a Scheme interpreter into a language framework. The internals documentation describes it as both an implementation of Scheme and a toolkit that also incorporated projects such as Qexo for XQuery and JEmacs for Emacs Lisp.

The official news page records major language-runtime milestones: Kawa 2.0 in December 2014 brought R7RS compatibility work, Kawa 2.3 in January 2017 moved the source repository to GitLab, Kawa 3.0 in October 2017 updated the codebase for Java 8 and Java 9-era changes, and Kawa 3.1.1 was documented in January 2020.

### Adoption history

Kawa has long occupied a niche among JVM languages: it is valuable to Scheme users who want Java interop, to language implementers studying JVM compilation, and to package maintainers who care about Lisp-family runtimes outside the more common C or native-code implementations.

### How it is used

Users run Kawa as an interactive language, a compiler to Java bytecode, or a Java-integrated scripting system. Its documentation emphasizes REPL use, static checking, modularity, and direct Java method and class access.

### Why package nerds care

Kawa is significant because it is both a language runtime and a compiler framework packaged like a Unix tool. It sits at the intersection of GNU packaging, Scheme standards, JVM bytecode, and the long history of alternative languages on Java.

### Timeline

- 1998-11: Kawa internals material began as a presentation on compiling Scheme to Java
- 2014-12-02: Kawa 2.0 news entry highlighted R7RS compatibility
- 2017-01-13: Kawa 2.3 moved source hosting to GitLab
- 2017-10-02: Kawa 3.0 updated the project for Java 8 and Java 9-era changes
- 2020-01-16: Kawa 3.1.1 documented packaging and browse-manual fixes

### Related projects

- Kawa is related to Scheme standards such as R5RS and R7RS, GNU Guile, other JVM languages, Qexo, JEmacs, SRFI libraries, and Java bytecode tooling.

### Sources

- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/kawa>
- <https://gitlab.com/kashell/Kawa>
- <https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/>
- <https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/internals/index.html>
- <https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/news.html>
- <https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/pt01.html>


## Security Notes

generalized runtime or code generation signal.

- **Geiger risk:** yellow / medium
- generalized runtime or code generation signal

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - kawa: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ka/kawa/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- dnf - kawa - 3.1.1-26.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: kawa from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/07190dc5ae9f35ae73866675fed6d95fe6e8d9fe22c9d7cdf85862cb2ed24a4c-primary.xml.zst | Scheme programming language | https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/


## Combined YAML source

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