Download and install

Download your computer's archive from GitHub Releases. Keep bin/, sdk/ and the bundled desktop libraries intact.

Computer	Archive
Apple Silicon Mac	lcom-ng-macos-arm64.tar.gz
Intel Mac	lcom-ng-macos-x86_64.tar.gz
Linux Intel / AMD 64-bit	lcom-ng-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
Linux ARM 64-bit	lcom-ng-linux-arm64.tar.gz
Windows Intel / AMD 64-bit, MSYS2	lcom-ng-windows-msys2-x86_64.tar.gz

Archives include the runtime, both SDKs, lab starters and checks, examples and SDL libraries. GitHub Actions builds and tests them; a matching .sha256 verifies each download.

macOS

Install Apple's compiler tools once:

xcode-select --install

On Apple Silicon, with the archive in Downloads:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/share"
tar -xzf "$HOME/Downloads/lcom-ng-macos-arm64.tar.gz" -C "$HOME/.local/share"
export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/lcom-ng-macos-arm64/bin:$PATH"
lcom-ng --help

On Intel Mac, replace arm64 with x86_64. Add the export PATH=... line to ~/.zshrc. Check python3 --version is 3.9 or newer; install Python from python.org if missing.

Archives are ad-hoc signed and not notarized. If macOS blocks a download, use Privacy & Security. See the macOS guide for troubleshooting.

Linux

Targets Ubuntu 24.04 or compatible distributions with glibc 2.39 or newer. Use a desktop session for interactive games. On Ubuntu, install the build tools:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential python3
mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/share"
tar -xzf "$HOME/Downloads/lcom-ng-linux-x86_64.tar.gz" -C "$HOME/.local/share"
export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/lcom-ng-linux-x86_64/bin:$PATH"
lcom-ng --help

Replace x86_64 with arm64 on ARM. Add the export line to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc. SDL and the terminal font are bundled; do not build lcom-ng or install SDL development packages.

Windows with MSYS2

Use the Windows archive in an MSYS2 MSYS terminal. This release uses MSYS2's POSIX runtime, not a standalone PowerShell executable. Do not mix it with a MinGW or UCRT native compiler.

Install MSYS2, open the MSYS terminal, then:

pacman -Syu

If asked to close the terminal, reopen it and finish the update. Then:

pacman -S --needed base-devel gcc python
mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/share"
tar -xzf /c/Users/YOUR_NAME/Downloads/lcom-ng-windows-msys2-x86_64.tar.gz -C "$HOME/.local/share"
export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/lcom-ng-windows-msys2-x86_64/bin:$PATH"
lcom-ng --help

Replace YOUR_NAME with your Windows account directory and add the export line to ~/.bashrc. Build and run in the same MSYS terminal. SDL and runtime DLLs are included; Windows ARM is not a release target.

Use lcom-ng compat build . --debug for debug symbols. MSYS GCC lacks AddressSanitizer; --sanitize address reports that the compiler cannot build with it.

Next steps

• Existing Minix project or lab: compatibility quick start.
• Native lab workspace: native student guide, then the lab track.