Building from source

To build: a recent stable Rust toolchain (edition 2024; rustup), a C/C++ compiler, pkg-config, cmake (the bundled Opus codec is built with it) and the ALSA headers on Linux. On a fresh system that is:

System	Packages
Debian 13 / Ubuntu 24.04	apt install build-essential pkg-config cmake libasound2-dev git curl
Fedora	dnf install gcc gcc-c++ make pkgconf-pkg-config cmake alsa-lib-devel git
Arch	pacman -S base-devel cmake alsa-lib git
macOS	Xcode command-line tools, then brew install cmake

The Linux lines are checked with a clean checkout in a fresh container: tools/container-build.sh debian|ubuntu|fedora|arch (needs podman) installs those packages (plus curl, and on Debian/Ubuntu CA certificates, for rustup) and rustup's stable toolchain, then builds and tests. On macOS, CI builds and tests on macOS 14 (Apple Silicon); the list above on a fresh Mac is not tried yet.

Build and run

cargo build --release
./target/release/ttyak    # the first time: a short guide signs you in, then ttyak opens

For working on ttyak (a debug build, the tests, logs), see CONTRIBUTING.md.

What it needs to run

libasound.so.2 (ALSA's library, on every desktop Linux) and the C++ runtime. Optional: ffmpeg / ffprobe on PATH for video playback, cameras and (outside Wayland) screen sharing; a D-Bus notification service for desktop notifications; a terminal with graphics for real images (see Requirements; others get half-block images). Without a sound card huddles still work (silently, with a note in the call bar); without system CA certificates ttyak uses the Mozilla roots it carries.

Windows from Linux

rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu, apt install mingw-w64 (or only its x86_64 part, as CI does: gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64 g++-mingw-w64-x86-64), then cargo build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu. The result is one ttyak.exe that needs no MinGW DLLs (crates/ttyak/build.rs links OpenH264's C++ runtime statically, .cargo/config.toml the C runtime). A native Windows build (MSVC) is not tried yet.

If it doesn't work

• CONTRIBUTING.md (building and testing)
• Reporting a bug
• everything else: Troubleshooting