hledger/site/download.md

Download

Do you want to..

A. download a binary/system package ?

System packages are quickest to install, but they can be out of date or incomplete.

Windows:	Latest developer builds (no hledger-ui)
Mac:	brew install hledger (CLI only)
Arch Linux:	pacman -S hledger (haskell problems are common on Arch at present, cf #668 1, 2)
Debian, Ubuntu:	sudo apt install hledger hledger-ui hledger-web
Fedora, RHEL:	sudo dnf install hledger
Gentoo:	sudo layman -a haskell && sudo emerge hledger hledger-ui hledger-web
Void Linux:	xbps-install -S hledger hledger-ui hledger-web hledger-api
NixOS:	nix-env -iA nixpkgs.haskellPackages.hledger \   nixpkgs.haskellPackages.hledger-ui \   nixpkgs.haskellPackages.hledger-web (problems building hledger-ui on MacOS)
Sandstorm:	hledger-web Sandstorm app -> demo (get a hledger-web server in 3 clicks. Features needed)

B. build the latest release ?

Good choice! The release notes show what you'll get. Just know that building haskell apps for the first time can take significant time (minutes to hours), memory (eg 1G+), and disk space (eg 1G in $HOME/.stack or $HOME/.cabal, though you can delete much of that afterward).

Here are three methods:

1. hledger-install

On POSIX systems (mac/linux/freebsd..), the hledger-install.sh script is the build method most likely to just work, as the only prerequisite is bash and it avoids many common gotchas. It uses stack or cabal, installing stack if needed, to build the latest release of hledger and all addon tools, one at a time, installing everything in $HOME/.local/bin (or $HOME/.cabal/bin).

Here's the responsible way to run it:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/simonmichael/hledger/master/hledger-install/hledger-install.sh
less hledger-install.sh # do security review
bash hledger-install.sh # run it; add -v for more detail, or use bash -x to show commands being run

and here's the easy way:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/simonmichael/hledger/master/hledger-install/hledger-install.sh | bash

You can kill and restart the installer without losing progress. If it fails, please help us improve it by reporting the full output.

2. stack

stack is the newer and easier of the two Haskell build tools. Here's how to use it directly to install hledger:

1. Install or upgrade to the latest stack
   The latest version of stack is recommended, as it is the best at avoiding ecosystem breakages and most likely to just work. If you already have stack 1.3 or greater, you can usually run stack upgrade to quickly upgrade it. On Windows, the 64-bit version of stack is recommended.

   Follow stack's advice to add $HOME/.local/bin to your $PATH (%APPDATA%\local\bin on Windows). Eg, if you're a bash user:
     echo "export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin" >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc

2. stack install --resolver=nightly hledger-lib-1.5 hledger-1.5 [hledger-ui-1.5] [hledger-web-1.5] [hledger-api-1.5]\
   This installs the specified hledger packages (and required haskell libraries and tools) from Stackage (and if needed, Hackage). Specifying stackage's nightly resolver (snapshot) requires the most rebuilding, but is the most reliable; you can try reducing build time by specifying another resolver that you've installed from previously, or no --resolver option.
   Add --dry-run to see the build plan. You can kill and restart this without losing progress.

   The bracketed packages are optional; if you include them, don't type the brackets, and do always include the preceding hledger-lib and hledger packages in the command, otherwise stack may complain. hledger-ui is not yet available on Windows, alas.

   If you get errors due to missing C libraries like curses or terminfo, you'll need to find out the corresponding system packages and install those manually. Eg:

   Debian, Ubuntu:	sudo apt install libncurses5-dev
   Fedora, RHEL:	sudo dnf install ncurses-devel

Now you should be able to run hledger --version (and hledger-ui --version, hledger-web --version etc. if installed) and see the latest version number. Additional add-on commands, such as hledger-diff, hledger-iadd, hledger-interest, and hledger-irr can be installed similarly to the above. Eg:
  stack install --resolver nightly hledger-lib-1.5 hledger-1.5 hledger-iadd-1.3.1

3. cabal

cabal is the other Haskell build tool. If you're a cabal expert, feel free to use this instead.

C. build the development version ?

Also a good choice. Our master branch is kept stable enough for daily use, and includes the very latest improvements (commits).

1. Install stack and git
2. git clone https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger
3. cd hledger
4. stack install [hledger] # optionally specify just the hledger package to build less

cabal users may find the cabal-install.sh or cabal.project files useful.