Installation

Installation

If you just want to use z-fasta, download a release archive. You get one static executable with no runtime dependencies, plus the MIT license.

Download a release

Open the z-fasta Releases page and choose the archive that matches your operating system and CPU:

• z-fasta_0.4.0_linux_x86_64.tar.gz
• z-fasta_0.4.0_linux_arm64.tar.gz
• z-fasta_0.4.0_macos_x86_64.tar.gz
• z-fasta_0.4.0_macos_arm64.tar.gz

Extract the archive and place z-fasta in a directory on your PATH.

Linux and macOS

tar -xzf z-fasta_0.4.0_linux_x86_64.tar.gz
chmod +x z-fasta
./z-fasta --version

To call it from anywhere, move it to a user-owned binary directory:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
mv z-fasta "$HOME/.local/bin/z-fasta"

Make sure $HOME/.local/bin is on your PATH.

Windows through WSL

I would like to support Windows properly, but keeping the native builds reliable currently takes more time than I can justify. I would rather be honest about that than publish an executable I cannot support well. I am sorry for the extra step.

For now, install Windows Subsystem for Linux, open its Linux shell, and use the Linux archive matching the WSL architecture. Run the Linux installation and verification commands above inside WSL.

Important

Confirm that z-fasta --version prints the release you intended to install before building indexes used by a pipeline.

Build from source

Build from source when you are developing z-fasta or need a commit that has not reached a release. Download Zig 0.16.0 from the official Zig download page, add its executable to your PATH, and confirm the version before building.

zig version
git clone https://github.com/eneskemalergin/z-fasta.git
cd z-fasta
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast
./zig-out/bin/z-fasta --version

The first command must print 0.16.0. Other Zig versions are not part of the supported source-build contract.

The executable is written to zig-out/bin/z-fasta.

Run the test suite when you are building a development checkout:

zig build test --summary all
zig build test -Doptimize=ReleaseFast --summary all

Verify the installation

z-fasta --help
z-fasta --version

Expected output for the 0.4.0 archive:

z-fasta 0.4.0

Match the printed version to the archive or checkout you selected.

Next: Getting started.