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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="http://boost.sourceforge.net/release/">HTTP 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 HTTP site. Older versions also available. (This option is
suggested first since it doesn't count against our web site host's monthly
fee.)</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/index.html">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 -->24 September, 2001<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="39337" -->
<p>Written by <a href="../people/jens_maurer.htm">Jens Maurer</a>
2001-02-11</p>
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