Installing Xen

Download a matching compiler package and SHA256SUMS from GitHub Releases. Use a new download directory for each release and select one compiler host CPU. The host CPU identifies the machine that runs Xen; either compiler can generate both supported Linux targets. AArch64 remains experimental as described in the project support scope.

Host CPU	Debian architecture	Debian package	Binary archive
x86-64	amd64	xen-lang_<debian-version>_amd64.deb	xen-<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
AArch64	arm64	xen-lang_<debian-version>_arm64.deb	xen-<version>-linux-aarch64.tar.gz

Debian and Ubuntu

Release CI checks Debian 12/13 and Ubuntu 22.04/24.04/26.04 on both architectures before publishing. Derivatives are not individually tested. Check your package architecture with dpkg --print-architecture, then download its .deb and the checksum manifest from the same release.

From that download directory, verify the downloaded package. Other assets listed in the manifest can remain undownloaded:

sha256sum --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS

For amd64:

sudo apt install ./xen-lang_*_amd64.deb

For arm64, use sudo apt install ./xen-lang_*_arm64.deb instead. The download directory should contain only the selected release’s package for that CPU. Use apt so the compiler’s system library dependencies are checked and installed. OCaml, Dune and Python are not needed to use the installed compiler.

xen version
xen run /usr/share/doc/xen-lang/examples/demo.xen
xen test std.fs --filter null

The package is named xen-lang; its command is xen. The executable is /usr/bin/xen, the required runtime modules are under /usr/lib/xen, and examples and notices are under /usr/share/doc/xen-lang. No XEN_STDLIB_ROOT setting is needed. Minimal OS images may exclude documentation; in that case use your own source file instead of the bundled example.

Install a newer downloaded .deb with the same apt command to upgrade. Remove the compiler and its bundled modules with:

sudo apt remove xen-lang

The Debian package version converts suffix separators and adds a packaging revision. For example, 0.1.0-demo.2 becomes 0.1.0~demo.2-1; xen version still reports 0.1.0-demo.2. See version and dependency handling when building your own package, since its minimum system-library versions depend on the build environment.

Binary tar.gz

An archive can be unpacked into a user-owned directory. Download the binary archive matching your host CPU and SHA256SUMS, then verify it with the checksum command above. The source archive is intended for building the compiler yourself.

For x86-64, with one matching binary archive in the download directory:

tar -xzf xen-*-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
cd xen-*-linux-x86_64
./bin/xen version
./bin/xen run examples/demo.xen
export PATH="$PWD/bin:$PATH"

On AArch64, replace x86_64 with aarch64 in the archive and directory names. The PATH change applies to the current shell; add the installed bin directory to your shell configuration for later sessions. Keep bin/ and stdlib/ together when moving the distribution. The compiler needs compatible system libraries; generated Xen programs are static Linux executables.

For a source build, continue with building Xen. Maintainers can generate both package formats using the packaging and release guide.