Escaping the Grue: Freeing The Inform 6 Documentation
Sun, 23 Aug 2026
Late last year, I wrote about the state of interactive fiction. One issue I highlighted was a classic trap the GNU Project warned about: free software needs free documentation. While the Inform compiler and standard library were eventually freed, its definitive guide, The Inform Designer's Manual, was not.
As the software changed, the manual's proprietary license prevented the community from updating, correcting, or extending it. This left users forced to supplement outdated material with scattered release notes and forum posts. We needed a comprehensive, copyleft guide to break that reliance on proprietary documentation.
Today, I'm happy to announce that The Inform 6 Programmer's Guide fills this last gap. It's a comprehensive, up-to-date reference that reflects a months-long deep dive into the Inform 6 compiler and standard library, dissecting everything from the lexer to memory management, expression parsers, and syntax trees; every library routine; every entry point; and how the compiler maps constructs to the target virtual machines.
The guide is organized into five major parts covering the Inform 6 Language, the Compiler, the Standard Library, Target Virtual Machines (both the Z-machine and Glulx), and Advanced Topics. It's licensed under the GNU General Public License (version 3 or later).
The full source is maintained in a public Git repository at https://jxself.org/git/?p=inform-guide.git. (Note: I have squished all of the git commit history together to provide a clean starting point). Additionally, the build system generates easily readable formats from the Markdown files. You can read the HTML website version at https://jxself.org/inform-guide/ or download the PDF at https://jxself.org/inform-guide/inform6-programmers-guide.pdf.
The grue is finally losing its teeth.