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polpo21 edited this page Sep 30, 2026 · 2 revisions

Installation

This guide covers all methods of installing Zero Layer on your system.

System Requirements

  • OS: Any Linux distribution (x86_64)
  • Kernel: Linux 4.x or later
  • libc: glibc 2.17+ or musl
  • Disk: ~15 MB for the binary, plus space for installed packages

Note: ZL is a single static binary. It has no runtime dependencies — no Python, no Node.js, no shared libraries needed.

Option 1: Pre-built Binary (Recommended)

Download the latest release directly:

System-wide install (requires sudo)

curl -Lo zl https://github.com/polpo21/zero_layer/releases/latest/download/zl-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
chmod +x zl
sudo mv zl /usr/local/bin/

User-local install (no sudo)

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -Lo ~/.local/bin/zl https://github.com/polpo21/zero_layer/releases/latest/download/zl-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/zl

If you install to ~/.local/bin, make sure it's in your PATH:

# Bash — add to ~/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Zsh — add to ~/.zshrc
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

# Fish
fish_add_path ~/.local/bin

Option 2: Build from Source

Requires Rust 1.90+ (edition 2024).

Install Rust

If you don't have Rust installed:

# Recommended: via rustup (works on any distro)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source ~/.cargo/env

# Arch Linux alternative
sudo pacman -S rust

# Fedora alternative
sudo dnf install rust cargo

# Ubuntu/Debian alternative
sudo apt install rustc cargo

Important: Distribution packages may ship older Rust versions. ZL requires Rust 1.90+. Use rustup if your distro's Rust is too old. Check with rustc --version.

Clone and Build

git clone https://github.com/polpo21/zero_layer.git
cd zero_layer
cargo build --release

The binary will be at target/release/zl.

Install the Binary

# System-wide
sudo cp target/release/zl /usr/local/bin/

# Or user-local
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cp target/release/zl ~/.local/bin/

Option 3: Self-Update

If ZL is already installed, update to the latest version:

zl self-update

This downloads the latest release binary for your architecture and libc (glibc or musl) from GitHub, verifies its SHA256 checksum against the release's SHA256SUMS.txt, and replaces the current binary in-place.

Post-Install Setup

1. Add ZL's bin directory to PATH

ZL installs package executables to ~/.local/share/zl/bin/. You need to add this to your PATH so installed packages are accessible:

# Bash — add to ~/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/zl/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Zsh — add to ~/.zshrc
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/zl/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

# Fish — run once
fish_add_path ~/.local/share/zl/bin

2. Enable shell completions

Tab completions make ZL much easier to use:

# Bash — add to ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(zl completions bash)"' >> ~/.bashrc

# Zsh — add to ~/.zshrc
echo 'eval "$(zl completions zsh)"' >> ~/.zshrc

# Fish — run once
zl completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/zl.fish

3. Verify the installation

zl --version
zl --help

4. Sync package indexes

Some sources require syncing before you can search or install:

# Arch Linux repos (pacman)
zl update --from pacman

# Debian/Ubuntu repos (apt)
zl update --from apt

# Fedora repos (dnf)
zl update --from dnf

# openSUSE repos (zypper)
zl update --from zypper

# Alpine repos (apk)
zl update --from apk

Sources that use live APIs (GitHub, AUR, Nix, Flatpak, Snap, AppImage) don't need syncing.

Verify Everything Works

# Search for a package
zl search ripgrep

# Install something
zl install ripgrep --from github

# Check it works
rg --version

# Clean up
zl remove ripgrep

Uninstalling ZL

To completely remove Zero Layer:

# Remove the binary
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/zl
# or: rm ~/.local/bin/zl

# Remove all installed packages, database, and cache
rm -rf ~/.local/share/zl

# Remove configuration
rm -rf ~/.config/zl

# Remove PATH and completion lines from your shell config
# (manually edit ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or fish config)

Next Steps

Zero Layer Wiki

Getting Started

User Guide

Deep Dive

Development

Help

Clone this wiki locally