build2 | Installation

The recommended way to install build2 is using the automated install scripts. Download a version for your platform (see below), verify its checksum, run, and follow the onscreen instructions. See the Installation FAQ for common installation questions and Other Installation Methods for alternatives (binary packages, etc).

To build and install build2 all you will need is a reasonably recent C++ compiler. See Which compilers are supported? for details.

The script will prompt for your confirmation before building or installing anything. Note also that you will normally want to keep the build directory around for upgrades or to cleanly uninstall the toolchain.

UNIX (Linux, Mac OS, FreeBSD)

Create the build2 build directory, for example ~/build2-build in your home directory, then run:

$ cd ~/build2-build

$ curl -sSfO https://download.build2.org/0.8.0/build2-install-0.8.0.sh

$ shasum -a 256 -b build2-install-0.8.0.sh

  8223d01a27ddf427e6833d826e631cf1e3b9f70185f7c66684e57339096afea5

$ sh build2-install-0.8.0.sh

Windows with MSVC

Create the build2 build directory, for example, C:\build2-build, download build2-install-msvc-0.8.0.bat into it, start the Visual Studio x64 Command Prompt, then run:

> cd C:\build2-build

> certutil -hashfile build2-install-msvc-0.8.0.bat SHA256

  c593c9980118ac6dd83c2d3d29a3014e20c4c90c5963d3935d746bd91403d19e

> build2-install-msvc-0.8.0.bat

Windows with MinGW

Create the build2 build directory, for example, C:\build2-build, download build2-install-mingw-0.8.0.bat into it, start the Command Prompt, then run:

> cd C:\build2-build

> certutil -hashfile build2-install-mingw-0.8.0.bat SHA256

  00767cff8e70bca3527381058a3ce47b2ac355b605a7a1af8998dcddc4f3f714

> build2-install-mingw-0.8.0.bat

The build2-install-mingw script downloads and installs (into the same directory as build2) a minimal MinGW GCC distribution that is then used to compile build2. If you would prefer to use your own MinGW GCC, see the alternative installation methods below.

Other Installation Methods

The steps described above are the preferred way to install build2 for most developers. For alternative from-source installation methods that offer more control see the Installation and Upgrade manual. To manually obtain various components of the build2 toolchain refer to the Download page.

There are also third-party binary packages for Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS/RedHat, and Fedora. Note, however, that they are not tested as part of the official build2 release process and are not guaranteed to be available in the future.