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urbit.org/docs/using/install.md
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1---
2navhome: /docs/
3navuptwo: true
4next: true
5sort: 1
6title: Install
7---
9# Install
11Installing Urbit is easy. It just takes a few minutes to get an
12instance up and running on the network.
14Urbit is designed to run on any Unix box with an internet connection.
15macOS, Ubuntu/Debian, FreeBSD, and Fedora all work well.
17If you run into trouble installing Urbit, please let us know via
18email, [questions@urbit.org](mailto:questions@urbit.org), or on the
19forum: [fora.urbit.org](https://fora.urbit.org). You can also chat
20with us at [urbit.org/stream](https://urbit.org/stream).
22> Urbit is alpha software. It’s not yet completely stable, its crypto
23> hasn’t been audited, and there are plenty of rough edges. Urbit is
24> lots of fun to play with, but not quite ready for your important or
25> sensitive data.
27## Build from source
29### Dependencies
31Urbit depends on:
33```
34autoconf
35automake
36C compiler (gcc or clang)
37cmake
38curses
39git
40gmp
41libcurl
42libsigsegv
43libtool
44libuv
45meson
46ninja
47openssl
48pkg-config
49python2
50ragel
51re2c
52```
54### Instructions
56First, you'll install the required dependencies to build Urbit from source. Then, you'll clone the Urbit source code, hosted on Github. Next, you'll bootstrap the Git submodules needed for the build. Lastly, you'll run a [Meson](https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson) build on the Urbit source to create your Urbit binary for your host operating system. Then, finally, you'll be able to boot your urbit.
58For your host OS platform and relevant package installer, run the respective Bash shell commands listed below in a fresh terminal window to get Urbit installed:
60> For those new to the command line, see:
62> - Mac: [Introduction to the Mac OS X Command Line](http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/introduction-to-the-mac-os-x-command-line)
63> - Linux: [An Introduction to the Linux Terminal](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/an-introduction-to-the-linux-terminal)
65#### macOS
67##### Homebrew
69> [Homebrew installation guide](https://treehouse.github.io/installation-guides/mac/homebrew)
71```
72# Bash
74brew update
75brew install autoconf automake cmake gcc git gmp libsigsegv libtool meson ninja pkg-config python2 openssl re2c
76git clone https://github.com/urbit/urbit
77cd urbit
78./scripts/bootstrap
79./scripts/build
80sudo ninja -C ./build/ meson-install
81urbit
82```
84##### Macports
86```
87# Bash
89sudo port selfupdate
90sudo port install autoconf automake cmake gmp libsigsegv meson openssl
91git clone https://github.com/urbit/urbit
92cd urbit
93./scripts/bootstrap
94./scripts/build
95sudo ninja -C ./build/ meson-install
96urbit
97```
99#### Linux
101##### Linuxbrew
103> [Linuxbrew](http://linuxbrew.sh/)
105```
106# Bash
108brew update
109brew install autoconf automake cmake gcc git gmp libsigsegv libtool meson ninja pkg-config python2 openssl re2c
110git clone https://github.com/urbit/urbit
111cd urbit
112./scripts/bootstrap
113./scripts/build
114sudo env "PATH=$PATH" ninja -C ./build/ meson-install
115urbit
116```
118##### Ubuntu or Debian
120```
121# Bash
123sudo apt-get update
124sudo apt-get install autoconf automake cmake exuberant-ctags g++ git libcurl4-gnutls-dev libgmp3-dev libncurses5-dev libsigsegv-dev libssl-dev libtool make ninja-build openssl pkg-config python python3 python3-pip ragel re2c zlib1g-dev
125sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip
126sudo -H pip3 install meson
127git clone https://github.com/urbit/urbit
128cd urbit
129./scripts/bootstrap
130./scripts/build
131sudo ninja -C ./build/ install
132urbit
133```
135##### Fedora
137```
138# Bash
140sudo dnf upgrade
141sudo dnf install autoconf automake cmake ctags gcc gcc-c++ git gmp-devel libcurl-devel libsigsegv-devel libtool ncurses-devel ninja-build openssl openssl-devel pkgconfig python2 python3 ragel re2c
142sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip
143sudo -H pip3 install meson
144git clone https://github.com/urbit/urbit
145cd urbit
146./scripts/bootstrap
147./scripts/build
148sudo ninja -C ./build/ meson-install
149urbit
150```
152##### FreeBSD
154```
155# Bash
157pkg upgrade
158pkg install autoconf automake cmake curl gcc git gmake gmp libsigsegv libtool python python3 ragel re2c
159sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip
160sudo -H pip3 install meson
161git clone https://github.com/urbit/urbit
162cd urbit
163./scripts/bootstrap
164./scripts/build
165sudo ninja -C ./build/ meson-install
166urbit
167```
169##### Arch
171```
172# Bash
174pacman -Syu
175pacman -S autoconf automake cmake curl gcc git gmp libsigsegv libtool ncurses ninja openssl python ragel re2c
176sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip
177sudo -H pip3 install meson
178git clone https://github.com/urbit/urbit
179cd urbit
180./scripts/bootstrap
181./scripts/build
182sudo ninja -C ./build/ meson-install
183urbit
184```
186##### AWS
188```
189# Bash
191sudo yum update
192sudo yum install --enablerepo epel autoconf automake cmake ctags gcc gcc-c++ git gmp-devel libcurl-devel libsigsegv-devel libtool meson ncurses-devel openssl-devel pkgconfig python re2c
193git clone https://github.com/urbit/urbit
194cd urbit
195./scripts/bootstrap
196./scripts/build
197sudo ninja -C ./build/ meson-install
198urbit
199```
201### Test for successful installation
203After running your installed `urbit` command, check to see if the following output was printed:
205```
206$ urbit
207Urbit: a personal server operating function
208https://urbit.org
209Version 0.5.1
211Usage: urbit [options...] ship_name
212where ship_name is a @p phonetic representation of an urbit address
213without the leading '~', and options is some subset of the following:
215-A dir Use dir for initial galaxy sync
216-b Batch create
217-B pill Bootstrap from this pill
218-c pier Create a new urbit in pier/
219-d Daemon mode
220-D Recompute from events
221-F Fake keys; also disables networking
222-f Fuzz testing
223-g Set GC flag
224-H domain Set ames bootstrap domain (default urbit.org)
225-I galaxy Start as ~galaxy
226-k stage Start at Hoon kernel version stage
227-l port Initial peer port
228-M Memory madness
229-n host Set unix hostname
230-N Enable networking in fake mode (-F)
231-p ames_port Set the HTTP port to bind to
232-P Profiling
233-q Quiet
234-r host Initial peer address
235-R Report urbit build info
236-s Pill URL from arvo git hash
237-t ticket Use ~ticket automatically
238-u url URL from which to download pill
239-v Verbose
240-w name Immediately upgrade to ~name
241-x Exit immediately
242-Xwtf Skip last event
244Development Usage:
245 To create a development ship, use a fakezod:
246 urbit -FI zod -A /path/to/arvo/folder -B /path/to/pill -c zod
248 For more information about developing on urbit, see:
249 https://github.com/urbit/urbit/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md
251Simple Usage:
252 urbit -c <mycomet> to create a comet (anonymous urbit)
253 urbit -w <myplanet> -t <myticket> if you have a ticket
254 urbit <myplanet or mycomet> to restart an existing urbit
255```
257If so, then you're ready to boot your urbit. If not, check that you entered each Bash command correctly for your host OS platform. If you're still experiencing issues, feel free to drop into [Urbit chat](https://urbit.org/stream) for troubleshooting help.
259### Boot your urbit
261You've now installed the Urbit binary. If you're running Urbit on a normal modern PC or Mac, or
262on a large cloud instance, move onto the next [setup](../setup/) section.
264If you're running Urbit in the cloud on a small instance, read
265the below section, as you may need to additionally configure swap space, then continue.
267### (Set up swap)
269Urbit wants to map 2GB of memory when it boots up. We won’t necessarily
270use all this memory, we just want to see it. On a normal modern PC or Mac,
271or on a large cloud virtual machine, this is not an issue. On some small
272cloud virtual machines (Amazon or Digital Ocean), the default memory
273configuration is smaller than this, and you need to manually configure a
274swapfile.
276Digital Ocean has a post on adding swap
277[here](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-add-swap-space-on-ubuntu-16-04).
278For Amazon there’s a StackOverflow thread
279[here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17173972/how-do-you-add-swap-to-an-ec2-instance).
281Don’t spend a lot of time tweaking these settings; the simplest
282thing is fine.