Before compiling Alacritty, you'll have to first clone the source code:
git clone https://github.com/alacritty/alacritty.git
cd alacritty-
Install
rustup.rs. -
To make sure you have the right Rust compiler installed, run
rustup override set stable rustup update stable
These are the minimum dependencies required to build Alacritty, please note that with some setups additional dependencies might be desired.
If you're running Wayland with an Nvidia GPU, you'll likely want the EGL
drivers installed too (these are called libegl1-mesa-dev on Ubuntu).
You can build alacritty using cargo deb and use your system's package manager
to maintain the application using the instructions below.
If you'd still like to build a local version manually, you need a few extra libraries to build Alacritty. Here's an apt command that should install all of them. If something is still found to be missing, please open an issue.
apt-get install cmake pkg-config libfreetype6-dev libfontconfig1-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev python3On Arch Linux, you need a few extra libraries to build Alacritty. Here's a
pacman command that should install all of them. If something is still found
to be missing, please open an issue.
pacman -S cmake freetype2 fontconfig pkg-config make libxcbOn Fedora, you need a few extra libraries to build Alacritty. Here's a dnf
command that should install all of them. If something is still found to be
missing, please open an issue.
dnf install cmake freetype-devel fontconfig-devel libxcb-develOn CentOS/RHEL 7, you need a few extra libraries to build Alacritty. Here's a yum
command that should install all of them. If something is still found to be
missing, please open an issue.
yum install cmake freetype-devel fontconfig-devel
yum group install "Development Tools"On openSUSE, you need a few extra libraries to build Alacritty. Here's
a zypper command that should install all of them. If something is
still found to be missing, please open an issue.
zypper install cmake freetype-devel fontconfig-devel libxcb-develCompiles out of the box for 14.2
On Void Linux, install following packages before compiling Alacritty:
xbps-install cmake freetype-devel expat-devel fontconfig-devel libxcb-devel pkg-config python3On FreeBSD, you need a few extra libraries to build Alacritty. Here's a pkg
command that should install all of them. If something is still found to be
missing, please open an issue.
pkg install cmake freetype2 fontconfig pkgconfOn OpenBSD 6.5, you need Xenocara and Rust to build Alacritty, plus Python 3 to build its XCB dependency. If something is still found to be missing, please open an issue.
pkg_add rust pythonSelect the package for Python 3 (e.g. python-3.6.8p0) when prompted.
The default user limits in OpenBSD are insufficient to build Alacritty. A
datasize-cur of at least 3GB is recommended (see login.conf).
On Solus, you need a few extra libraries to build
Alacritty. Here's a eopkg command that should install all of them. If
something is still found to be missing, please open an issue.
eopkg install fontconfig-develThe following command can be used to get a shell with all development dependencies on NixOS.
nix-shell -A alacritty '<nixpkgs>'On Gentoo, you need a few extra libraries to build Alacritty. The following command should install all of them. If something is still found to be missing, please open an issue.
emerge --onlydeps x11-terms/alacrittyThe following command can be used to get a shell with all development dependencies on GNU Guix.
guix environment alacrittyOn windows you will need to have the {architecture}-pc-windows-msvc toolchain
installed as well as Clang 3.9 or greater.
On Clear Linux, you need a few extra libraries to build Alacritty. Here's a
swupd command that should install all of them. If something is still found
to be missing, please open an issue.
swupd bundle-add devpkg-expat devpkg-freetype devpkg-libxcbIf you build Alacritty on another distribution, we would love some help filling in this section of the README.
Once all the prerequisites are installed, compiling Alacritty should be easy:
cargo build --releaseIf all goes well, this should place a binary at target/release/alacritty.
On Windows this directory should also contain the winpty-agent.exe.
Many linux distributions support desktop entries for adding applications to system menus. To install the desktop entry for Alacritty, run
sudo cp target/release/alacritty /usr/local/bin # or anywhere else in $PATH
sudo cp extra/logo/alacritty-term.svg /usr/share/pixmaps/Alacritty.svg
sudo desktop-file-install extra/linux/alacritty.desktop
sudo update-desktop-databaseTo build an application for macOS, run
make app
cp -r target/release/osx/Alacritty.app /Applications/If you don't want to clone the repository, you can install Alacritty directly using cargo:
cargo install --git https://github.com/alacritty/alacrittyUsing cargo deb, you can create and install a deb file.
cargo install cargo-deb
cargo deb --install -p alacrittyTo choose a default terminal app, use Debian's update-alternatives.
update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulatorInstalling the manual page requires the additional dependency gzip.
To install the manual page, run
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/share/man/man1
gzip -c extra/alacritty.man | sudo tee /usr/local/share/man/man1/alacritty.1.gz > /dev/nullTo get automatic completions for alacritty's flags and arguments you can install the provided shell completions.
To install the completions for zsh, you can place the extra/completions/_alacritty file in any
directory referenced by $fpath.
If you do not already have such a directory registered through your ~/.zshrc, you can add one like this:
mkdir -p ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zsh_functions
echo 'fpath+=${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zsh_functions' >> ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zshrcThen copy the completion file to this directory:
cp extra/completions/_alacritty ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zsh_functions/_alacrittyTo install the completions for bash, you can source the extra/completions/alacritty.bash file
in your ~/.bashrc file.
If you do not plan to delete the source folder of alacritty, you can run
echo "source $(pwd)/extra/completions/alacritty.bash" >> ~/.bashrcOtherwise you can copy it to the ~/.bash_completion folder and source it from there:
mkdir -p ~/.bash_completion
cp extra/completions/alacritty.bash ~/.bash_completion/alacritty
echo "source ~/.bash_completion/alacritty" >> ~/.bashrcTo install the completions for fish, run
mkdir -p $fish_complete_path[1]
cp extra/completions/alacritty.fish $fish_complete_path[1]/alacritty.fish
The terminfo database contains entries describing the terminal emulator's capabilities. Programs need these in order to function properly.
Alacritty should work with the standard xterm-256color definition,
but to allow programs to make best use of alacritty's capabilities,
use its own terminfo definition instead.
Unless the user has set the TERM environment variable in the
alacritty configuration, the alacritty terminfo definition will be
used if it has been installed. If not, then xterm-256color is used
instead.
To install alacritty's terminfo entry globally:
sudo tic -xe alacritty,alacritty-direct extra/alacritty.info