# Building Zed for Linux

## Repository

Clone down the [Zed repository](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed).

## Dependencies

- Install [rustup](https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install)

- Install the necessary system libraries:

  ```sh
  script/linux
  ```

  If you prefer to install the system libraries manually, you can find the list of required packages in the `script/linux` file.

## Backend dependencies

> This section is still in development. The instructions are not yet complete.

If you are developing collaborative features of Zed, you'll need to install the dependencies of zed's `collab` server:

- Install [Postgres](https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/)
- Install [Livekit](https://github.com/livekit/livekit-cli) and [Foreman](https://theforeman.org/manuals/3.9/quickstart_guide.html)

Alternatively, if you have [Docker](https://www.docker.com/) installed you can bring up all the `collab` dependencies using Docker Compose:

```sh
docker compose up -d
```

## Building from source

Once the dependencies are installed, you can build Zed using [Cargo](https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/).

For a debug build of the editor:

```sh
cargo run
```

And to run the tests:

```sh
cargo test --workspace
```

In release mode, the primary user interface is the `cli` crate. You can run it in development with:

```sh
cargo run -p cli
```

## Installing a development build

You can install a local build on your machine with:

```sh
./script/install-linux
```

This will build zed and the cli in release mode and make them available at `~/.local/bin/zed`, installing .desktop files to `~/.local/share`.

> **_Note_**: If you encounter linker errors similar to the following:
>
> ```bash
> error: linking with `cc` failed: exit status: 1 ...
> = note: /usr/bin/ld: /tmp/rustcISMaod/libaws_lc_sys-79f08eb6d32e546e.rlib(f8e4fd781484bd36-bcm.o): in function `aws_lc_0_25_0_handle_cpu_env':
>           /aws-lc/crypto/fipsmodule/cpucap/cpu_intel.c:(.text.aws_lc_0_25_0_handle_cpu_env+0x63): undefined reference to `__isoc23_sscanf'
>           /usr/bin/ld: /tmp/rustcISMaod/libaws_lc_sys-79f08eb6d32e546e.rlib(f8e4fd781484bd36-bcm.o): in function `pkey_rsa_ctrl_str':
>           /aws-lc/crypto/fipsmodule/evp/p_rsa.c:741:(.text.pkey_rsa_ctrl_str+0x20d): undefined reference to `__isoc23_strtol'
>           /usr/bin/ld: /aws-lc/crypto/fipsmodule/evp/p_rsa.c:752:(.text.pkey_rsa_ctrl_str+0x258): undefined reference to `__isoc23_strtol'
>           collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
>   = note: some `extern` functions couldn't be found; some native libraries may need to be installed or have their path specified
>   = note: use the `-l` flag to specify native libraries to link
>   = note: use the `cargo:rustc-link-lib` directive to specify the native libraries to link with Cargo (see https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/build-scripts.html#rustc-link-lib)
> error: could not compile `remote_server` (bin "remote_server") due to 1 previous error
> ```
>
> **Cause**:
> this is caused by known bugs in aws-lc-rs(doesn't support GCC >= 14): [FIPS fails to build with GCC >= 14](https://github.com/aws/aws-lc-rs/issues/569)
> & [GCC-14 - build failure for FIPS module](https://github.com/aws/aws-lc/issues/2010)
>
> You can refer to [linux: Linker error for remote_server when using script/install-linux](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/24880) for more information.
>
> **Workarounds**:
> Set the remote server target to `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu` like so `export REMOTE_SERVER_TARGET=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu; script/install-linux`

## Wayland & X11

Zed supports both X11 and Wayland. By default, we pick whichever we can find at runtime. If you're on Wayland and want to run in X11 mode, use the environment variable `WAYLAND_DISPLAY=''`.

## Notes for packaging Zed

Thank you for taking on the task of packaging Zed!

### Technical requirements

Zed has two main binaries:

- You will need to build `crates/cli` and make its binary available in `$PATH` with the name `zed`.