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<h1>Boost Download and Installation</h1>
The boost libraries are intended for easy download and <a href="#Installation">installation</a>;
many libraries require nothing more that downloading and unpacking to be ready
for use, including full documentation. When required, see <a href="../tools/build/index.html">Building
Boost Libraries</a> to create object libraries.
<h2>Download</h2>
The boost libraries are available in various formats:
<ul>
<li><a href="ftp://boost.sourceforge.net/pub/boost/release/">FTP download</a> all of Boost as a single archive
file (<a href="#.zip">.zip</a> or <a href="#.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>) file from our
SourceForge FTP site. Older versions also available. (FTP download is
suggested first since it doesn't count against our web site host's monthly
fee. But some users behind firewalls can't use FTP, and the
SourceForge FTP site is sometimes down or very busy.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="../boost_all.zip">ZIP download</a> all of Boost as a single archive
file from our web site.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="../boost_all.tar.gz">TAR.GZ download</a> all of Boost as a single archive
file from our web site.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="#CVS">Command line</a> or <a href="#Browser">browser</a> access
to Boost's CVS repository.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Download individual files from links in the documentation on the web
site. Because of the number of files involved, and <a href="../libs/hdr_depend.html">header
dependencies</a>, this option usually isn't very useful.</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name=".zip">.zip</a> file</h3>
The .zip format is widely supported by both free decoders and
commercial compress/archive utilities. If you don't already have a
.zip file decoder, download one from the
<a href="http://www.info-zip.org/">Info-ZIP</a>
web site, which supplies versions for many operating systems.
<p>
Text file line endings in the .zip file are as supplied by each library
developer. This works fine for Windows, but not for Unix/Linux. The
.tar.gz file supplies Unix/Linux friendly line endings.
<h3><a name=".tar.gz">.tar.gz</a> file</h3>
The .tar.gz format is widely supported on Unix/Linux platforms. Some
Windows compress/archive utilities can read the format as well. Because
the gzip format compresses the archive as a single file rather than compressing
each file individually, the .tar.gz file is smaller that the .zip file.
<p>Text file line endings in the .tar.gz file have been converted to newlines
for ease of use on Unix/Linux platforms.</p>
<h3><a name="CVS">CVS</a> command line access</h3>
For those who have CVS installed, the libraries are also available
from the public CVS repository. The general procedure for
command-line clients is something like this:
<blockquote>
<code>
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.boost.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/boost login
</code>
<br>
[Hit <return> when it asks for a password]
<br>
<code>
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.boost.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/boost checkout boost
<br>
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.boost.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/boost logout
</code>
</blockquote>
Read the manual for your CVS client for further information.
<p>
This access is read-only; if you are a library author and wish to have
CVS write access, please contact one of the
<a href="mailto:boost-owner@yahoogroups.com">moderators</a>.
<h3>CVS <a name="Browser">Browser</a> access via WebCVS</h3>
For access to the CVS archive from any modern web browser, you can also use the <a href="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/boost/boost/">web
browser interface</a>. Try one of the color diffs to see how a file
has changed over time.
<h2><a name="Installation">Installation</a></h2>
Many boost libraries are implemented entirely within their header
files. The only preparation for their use is to add the path for the
parent directory of the boost headers sub-directory to your compiler's
list of <code>#include</code> search directories.
<p>
For example, using Windows 2000, if you have unzipped release 1.20.2
from boost_all.zip into the top level directory of your C drive, for
Borland, GCC, and Metrowerks compilers add '-Ic:/boost_1_20_2' to the
compiler command line, and for the Microsoft compiler add '/I
"c:/boost_1_20_2"'. For IDE's, add 'c:/boost_1_20_2' (or whatever you
have renamed it to) to the search list using the appropriate GUI
dialog.
<p>
Some Boost libraries are implemented as separate source files, and
thus require compilation into object libraries before any use. See <a href="../tools/build/build_system.htm">Building
Boost Libraries</a> for an automatic tool to prepare such libraries.
Some of the individual libraries also include make and/or project files
for various compilers, but these will become obsolete as Boost.Build matures..
<p>
<hr>
Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->19 August, 2001<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="34359" -->
<p>Written by <a href="../people/jens_maurer.htm">Jens Maurer</a>
2001-02-11</p>
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