1# Building Zed for Linux
2
3## Repository
4
5Clone down the [Zed repository](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed).
6
7## Dependencies
8
9- Install [rustup](https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install)
10
11- Install the necessary system libraries:
12
13 ```sh
14 script/linux
15 ```
16
17 If you prefer to install the system libraries manually, you can find the list of required packages in the `script/linux` file.
18
19### Backend Dependencies (optional) {#backend-dependencies}
20
21If you are looking to develop Zed collaboration features using a local collaboration server, please see: [Local Collaboration](./local-collaboration.md) docs.
22
23### Linkers {#linker}
24
25On Linux, Rust's default linker is [LLVM's `lld`](https://blog.rust-lang.org/2025/09/18/Rust-1.90.0/). Alternative linkers, especially [Wild](https://github.com/davidlattimore/wild) and [Mold](https://github.com/rui314/mold) can significantly improve clean and incremental build time.
26
27At present Zed uses Mold in CI because it's more mature. For local development Wild is recommended because it's 5-20% faster than Mold.
28
29These linkers can be installed with `script/install-mold` and `script/install-wild`.
30
31To use Wild as your default, add these lines to your `~/.cargo/config.toml`:
32
33```toml
34[target.x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu]
35linker = "clang"
36rustflags = ["-C", "link-arg=--ld-path=wild"]
37
38[target.aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu]
39linker = "clang"
40rustflags = ["-C", "link-arg=--ld-path=wild"]
41```
42
43To use Mold as your default:
44
45```toml
46[target.'cfg(target_os = "linux")']
47rustflags = ["-C", "link-arg=-fuse-ld=mold"]
48```
49
50## Building from source
51
52Once the dependencies are installed, you can build Zed using [Cargo](https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/).
53
54For a debug build of the editor:
55
56```sh
57cargo run
58```
59
60And to run the tests:
61
62```sh
63cargo test --workspace
64```
65
66In release mode, the primary user interface is the `cli` crate. You can run it in development with:
67
68```sh
69cargo run -p cli
70```
71
72## Installing a development build
73
74You can install a local build on your machine with:
75
76```sh
77./script/install-linux
78```
79
80This will build zed and the cli in release mode and make them available at `~/.local/bin/zed`, installing .desktop files to `~/.local/share`.
81
82> **_Note_**: If you encounter linker errors similar to the following:
83>
84> ```bash
85> error: linking with `cc` failed: exit status: 1 ...
86> = note: /usr/bin/ld: /tmp/rustcISMaod/libaws_lc_sys-79f08eb6d32e546e.rlib(f8e4fd781484bd36-bcm.o): in function `aws_lc_0_25_0_handle_cpu_env':
87> /aws-lc/crypto/fipsmodule/cpucap/cpu_intel.c:(.text.aws_lc_0_25_0_handle_cpu_env+0x63): undefined reference to `__isoc23_sscanf'
88> /usr/bin/ld: /tmp/rustcISMaod/libaws_lc_sys-79f08eb6d32e546e.rlib(f8e4fd781484bd36-bcm.o): in function `pkey_rsa_ctrl_str':
89> /aws-lc/crypto/fipsmodule/evp/p_rsa.c:741:(.text.pkey_rsa_ctrl_str+0x20d): undefined reference to `__isoc23_strtol'
90> /usr/bin/ld: /aws-lc/crypto/fipsmodule/evp/p_rsa.c:752:(.text.pkey_rsa_ctrl_str+0x258): undefined reference to `__isoc23_strtol'
91> collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
92> = note: some `extern` functions couldn't be found; some native libraries may need to be installed or have their path specified
93> = note: use the `-l` flag to specify native libraries to link
94> = note: use the `cargo:rustc-link-lib` directive to specify the native libraries to link with Cargo (see https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/build-scripts.html#rustc-link-lib)
95> error: could not compile `remote_server` (bin "remote_server") due to 1 previous error
96> ```
97>
98> **Cause**:
99> this is caused by known bugs in aws-lc-rs(doesn't support GCC >= 14): [FIPS fails to build with GCC >= 14](https://github.com/aws/aws-lc-rs/issues/569)
100> & [GCC-14 - build failure for FIPS module](https://github.com/aws/aws-lc/issues/2010)
101>
102> You can refer to [linux: Linker error for remote_server when using script/install-linux](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/24880) for more information.
103>
104> **Workarounds**:
105> Set the remote server target to `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu` like so `export REMOTE_SERVER_TARGET=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu; script/install-linux`
106
107## Wayland & X11
108
109Zed supports both X11 and Wayland. By default, we pick whichever we can find at runtime. If you're on Wayland and want to run in X11 mode, use the environment variable `WAYLAND_DISPLAY=''`.
110
111## Notes for packaging Zed
112
113Thank you for taking on the task of packaging Zed!
114
115### Technical requirements
116
117Zed has two main binaries:
118
119- You will need to build `crates/cli` and make its binary available in `$PATH` with the name `zed`.
120- You will need to build `crates/zed` and put it at `$PATH/to/cli/../../libexec/zed-editor`. For example, if you are going to put the cli at `~/.local/bin/zed` put zed at `~/.local/libexec/zed-editor`. As some linux distributions (notably Arch) discourage the use of `libexec`, you can also put this binary at `$PATH/to/cli/../../lib/zed/zed-editor` (e.g. `~/.local/lib/zed/zed-editor`) instead.
121- If you are going to provide a `.desktop` file you can find a template in `crates/zed/resources/zed.desktop.in`, and use `envsubst` to populate it with the values required. This file should also be renamed to `$APP_ID.desktop` so that the file [follows the FreeDesktop standards](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/12707#issuecomment-2168742761). You should also make this desktop file executable (`chmod 755`).
122- You will need to ensure that the necessary libraries are installed. You can get the current list by [inspecting the built binary](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/935cf542aebf55122ce6ed1c91d0fe8711970c82/script/bundle-linux#L65-L67) on your system.
123- For an example of a complete build script, see [script/bundle-linux](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/935cf542aebf55122ce6ed1c91d0fe8711970c82/script/bundle-linux).
124- You can disable Zed's auto updates and provide instructions for users who try to update Zed manually by building (or running) Zed with the environment variable `ZED_UPDATE_EXPLANATION`. For example: `ZED_UPDATE_EXPLANATION="Please use flatpak to update zed."`.
125- Make sure to update the contents of the `crates/zed/RELEASE_CHANNEL` file to 'nightly', 'preview', or 'stable', with no newline. This will cause Zed to use the credentials manager to remember a user's login.
126
127### Other things to note
128
129At Zed, our priority has been to move fast and bring the latest technology to our users. We've long been frustrated at having software that is slow, out of date, or hard to configure, and so we've built our editor to those tastes.
130
131However, we realize that many distros have other priorities. We want to work with everyone to bring Zed to their favorite platforms. But there is a long way to go:
132
133- Zed is a fast-moving early-phase project. We typically release 2-3 builds per week to fix user-reported issues and release major features.
134- There are a couple of other `zed` binaries that may be present on Linux systems ([1](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/man/v2.2/8/zed.8.html), [2](https://zed.brimdata.io/docs/commands/zed)). If you want to rename our CLI binary because of these issues, we suggest `zedit`, `zeditor`, or `zed-cli`.
135- Zed automatically installs the correct version of common developer tools in the same way as rustup/rbenv/pyenv, etc. We understand this is contentious, [see here](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/12589).
136- We allow users to install extensions locally and from [zed-industries/extensions](https://github.com/zed-industries/extensions). These extensions may install further tooling as needed, such as language servers. In the long run, we would like to make this safer, [see here](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/12358).
137- Zed connects to several online services by default (AI, telemetry, collaboration). AI and our telemetry can be disabled by your users with their zed settings or by patching our [default settings file](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/main/assets/settings/default.json).
138- As a result of the above issues, zed currently does not play nice with sandboxes, [see here](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/pull/12006#issuecomment-2130421220)
139
140## Flatpak
141
142> Zed's current Flatpak integration exits the sandbox on startup. Workflows that rely on Flatpak's sandboxing may not work as expected.
143
144To build & install the Flatpak package locally follow the steps below:
145
1461. Install Flatpak for your distribution as outlined [here](https://flathub.org/setup).
1472. Run the `script/flatpak/deps` script to install the required dependencies.
1483. Run `script/flatpak/bundle-flatpak`.
1494. Now the package has been installed and has a bundle available at `target/release/{app-id}.flatpak`.
150
151## Memory profiling
152
153[`heaptrack`](https://github.com/KDE/heaptrack) is quite useful for diagnosing memory leaks. To install it:
154
155```sh
156$ sudo apt install heaptrack heaptrack-gui
157$ cargo install cargo-heaptrack
158```
159
160Then, to build and run Zed with the profiler attached:
161
162```sh
163$ cargo heaptrack -b zed
164```
165
166When this zed instance is exited, terminal output will include a command to run `heaptrack_interpret` to convert the `*.raw.zst` profile to a `*.zst` file which can be passed to `heaptrack_gui` for viewing.
167
168## Troubleshooting
169
170### Cargo errors claiming that a dependency is using unstable features
171
172Try `cargo clean` and `cargo build`.