Installing Bazaar
=================

Linux
-----

Bazaar packages are available for most popular Linux distributions
including Ubuntu/Debian, Red Hat and Gentoo.
See http://bazaar-vcs.org/Downloads for the latest instructions.

Windows
-------

For Windows users, an installer is available that includes
the core Bazaar package together with necessary pre-requisites
and some useful plug-ins.
See http://bazaar-vcs.org/Downloads for the latest instructions.

Note: If you are running Cygwin on Windows, a Bazaar for Cygwin package
is available and ought to be used instead of the Windows version.

Other operating systems
-----------------------

Beyond Linux and Windows, Bazaar packages are available for a large
range of other operating systems include Mac OS X, FreeBSD and Solaris.
See http://bazaar-vcs.org/Downloads for the latest instructions.


Installing from scratch
-----------------------

If you wish to install Bazaar from scratch rather than using a
pre-built package, the steps are:

  1. If it is not installed already, install Python 2.4 or later.

  2. Download the ``bazaar-xxx.tar.gz`` file (where xxx is the version
     number) from http://bazaar-vcs.org/Downloads or from Launchpad
     (https://launchpad.net/~bzr/).

  3. Unpack the archive using tar, WinZip or equivalent.

  4. Put the created directory on your PATH.

To test the installation, try running the **bzr** command like this::

  bzr version

This will display the version of Bazaar you have installed. If this
doesn't work, please contact us via email or IRC so we can help you
get things working.


Running the development version
-------------------------------

If you wish to always be using the very latest development version of
Bazaar, it is easy to do so. Note that this is not recommended for
the majority of users as there is an increased risk of bugs. On the other
hand, the development version is remarkably solid (thanks to the processes
we follow) and runnig it makes it easier for you to help us make Bazaar
even better either through increased testing or sending us changes for
bugs and improvements.

Here are the steps to follow:

  1. Install Bazaar using one of the methods given above.

  2. Get a copy of the development version like this::

       bzr branch http://bazaar-vcs.org/bzr/bzr.dev

  3. Put the created directory (bzr.dev) on your PATH.

Advanced users may also wish to build the optional C extensions for greater
speed. This can be done using ``make`` and requires ``pyrex`` and a C compiler.
Please contact us on email or IRC if you need assistance with this.


Running multiple versions
-------------------------

One of the neat things about Bazaar is that it's really easy to have
multiple versions installed and to switch between them. To do this,
simply provide the full path to the **bzr** command you wish to run.
The relevant libraries will be automatically detected and used. Of course,
if you do not provide a path, then the **bzr** used will be the one on
your path as normal.

Note that this capability is particularly useful if you wish to run
(or test) both the latest released version and the development version say.