Downloading and installing gEDA
Several different methods to install gEDA exist. Select your installation method depending upon your Linux distribution and your level of expertise. If one install method doesn't work for you, please try a different one. Consult the gEDA wiki for further download/install tips. Also, if this is your first time installing gEDA, please read the gEDA words to the wise.
Distribution Packages / Binaries
Installing gEDA using a pre-built package is the most painless method to install the software. Automated package installers like "yum" or "apt-get" handle all dependencies for you. Newbies should use these methods to install gEDA on their systems. Alternately, good old "rpm" will also work, although you may need to install dependencies first.
| Linux Distro | Installation method | Install files | Creator/maintainer | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fedora Core 5 Fedora Core 6 |
yum install geda-* yum install pcb-* |
RPMs | Chitlesh Goorah/Fedora Project | Major parts of gEDA are now part of the Fedora Extras project! |
| Fedora Core 5 Fedora Core 6 |
rpm --install geda-* rpm --install libgeda-* rpm --install pcb-* |
RPMs | Wojciech Kazubski | When you install FC5, select "software development" packages. Beyond that you might also need to install the following RPMs: guile-devel, libstroke. |
| Fedora Core 4 and previous FC and RedHat systems | rpm --install geda-* rpm --install libgeda-* rpm --install pcb-* |
RPMs | Wojciech Kazubski | When you install FC5, select "software development" packages. Beyond that you might also need to install the following RPMs: guile-devel, libstroke. |
| SuSE | yast | RPMs | Werner Hoch | |
| Debian | apt-get install geda | .deb files | Hamish Moffatt | Download .debs appropriate for the maturity level of your distro (stable, testing, etc.) |
| Mac OSX | fink packages | Charles Lepple | Instructions provided in link |
gEDA Binary Suite
For those people who cannot find binaries of the gEDA Suite programs via your distribution, you can try to install the gEDA Binary Suite. The gEDA Binary Suite is only for x86 GNU/Linux and contains everything you need to run the gEDA Suite programs on any GNU/Linux distribution (released after October 2001).
- The current version of the gEDA Binary Suite is 0.0.2
- Be sure to read the README for installation information.
- The gEDA Binary Suite can be download via: HTTP FTP
Sources
gEDA is free / open-source software. Developers interested in getting all sources can either use the CDROM (above), or they can download the individual components from the sources download page.
Words to the Wise
- gEDA is a set of GNU/Linux or Unix-native programs. There is no supported Windows version. However, since most programs are based on the cross-platform GTK+ libraries, it is theoretically possible to build a Windows version. Therefore, if you want a Windows version, please feel free to grab the sources and try to build one yourself.
- The gEDA programs use the GTK+ GUI toolkit. If you are running KDE, you should have no problem building and installing them as long as the GTK+ libraries and headers are installed on your system.
- gEDA/gaf, as well as the gEDA-allied programs have certain dependencies. These are libraries and other programs which must be present on your system to build and run gEDA successfully. When trying to install gEDA, you may find that you need to install other, seemingly unrelated programs first. This is part of the normal process of installing GNU/Linux or Unix software. Note that the installation methods presented above provide you with different approaches to handling the dependency issue. (Also, gEDA/gaf has a very light dependency footprint. However, other gEDA-allied programs may have more dependencies.) If you find you are missing dependencies during the installation process don't despair! Overcoming any dependency issue is a simple matter of installing the required program or library.