Installing RGBDS

Most people will want to use a stable release (the more recent the better).

Below is a list of Operative Systems for which pre-built executables are available. If none of these options fits your needs, you can build from source.

Linux

Generic Linux x86_64 ready binaries are available in our Releases page.

Arch

RGBDS is available in the official Arch Linux repositories as extra/rgbds; you can also get the latest master via the rgbds-git AUR package.

pacman -S rgbds

macOS

RGBDS is available on Homebrew as the rgbds package.

brew install rgbds

You can also install the master branch by passing the --HEAD flag:

brew install rgbds --HEAD

Windows

The install instructions change a bit depending on the environment you wish to use RGBDS with.

WSL / Linux-like environments
Cygwin / MSYS2
None of those

For these, please refer to the Linux instructions for the installed Linux distribution (the default Linux distribution on WSL is Ubuntu, whose package manager is apt).

First, pick the version you want to install. If you want to use master instead of a release, go here.
Follow the "release page" link below "GitHub links", and grab either of the win32 (for 32-bit Windows) or win64 (for 64-bit Windows) .zip files, near the bottom of the page.
Unzip that file, you should get the .exe files alongside a couple of .dlls.
Copy all of those .exe and .dll files to the /usr/local/bin directory of Cygwin/MSYS2's installation. (You can get its equivalent Windows path by running cygpath -w /usr/local/bin.)

Do not put them in a subdirectory (e.g. /usr/local/bin/rgbds)! This would not work.

After that, you should be able to use RGBDS from within the Cygwin/MSYS2 terminal, which you can confirm by running rgbasm -V. If this doesn't work, check that /usr/local/bin is within the PATH there (echo $PATH); if it isn't, you must add it (e.g. run echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"' >>~/.bashrc, and open a new Cygwin terminal).

Note: if you can choose between using Cygwin or MSYS2, be advised that Cygwin is slower and has been reported to cause a bit of trouble to some.

First, pick the version you want to install. If you want to use master instead of a release, go here.
Follow the "release page" link below "GitHub links", and grab either of the win32 (for 32-bit Windows) or win64 (for 64-bit Windows) .zip files, near the bottom of the page.
Unzip that file, you should get the .exe files alongside a couple of .dlls.
Either:
- ...put all of the files in a directory, then add it to the PATH. This will permanently allow you to use RGBDS from anywhere.
  - Graphically
  - cmd.exe
  - PowerShell
  Open Control Panel
  
  Click "User Accounts"
  
  Click "User Accounts" again
  
  Click "Change my environment variables"
  
  Select the "Path" line in the top panel
  
  Click "Edit..."
  
  Click "Browse...", select the folder the files are in, and click OK
  
  Make sure that the new entry (which should be highlighted) is at the bottom of the list; if not, click on "Move Down" until it is
  
  Click "OK"
  
  Click "OK"
  Run the following, replacing <rgbds_path> with the path to the directory that contains rgbasm.exe, rgblink.exe, etc.
  setx PATH "%PATH%<rgbds_path>;"
  ...then open a new window for the changes to take effect.
  If you only want to modify the PATH temporarily, instead of the permanent setx command, you can use the temporary set.
  Run the following, replacing <rgbds_path> with the path to the directory that contains rgbasm.exe, rgblink.exe, etc.
  setx PATH ${Env:PATH}<rgbds_path>;
  ...then open a new window for the changes to take effect.
  If you only want to modify the PATH temporarily, instead of the permanent setx command, you can use the temporary set.
- ...or put all of the files in your project's directory.
- ...or put all of the files in a directory already in the PATH.
Profit! RGBDS can now be used from your favorite command line (cmd.exe or PowerShell, most likely). You can test it by running rgbasm --version.

Other

Docker

We distribute an official container image for RGBDS. It contains the built executables and the build dependencies in case you want to compile from source.

docker pull ghcr.io/gbdev/rgbds:latest

Installing a development version

If you are willing to help us test new features, consider using a development version.

Managing multiple versions

If you need to frequently switch between different versions of RGBDS, consider using rgbenv, the RGBDS version manager.

Installing RGBDS

Linux​

Arch​

macOS​

Windows​

Other​

Docker​

Installing a development version​

Managing multiple versions​