windows.md

Building on Windows

If you just want to install kubo, please download it from https://dist.ipfs.tech/#kubo. This document explains how to build it from source.

Install Go

kubo is built on Golang and thus depends on it for all building methods.
https://golang.org/doc/install
The GOPATH environment variable must be set as well.
https://golang.org/doc/code.html#GOPATH

Choose the way you want to proceed

kubo utilizes make to automate builds and run tests, but can be built without it using only git and go.
No matter which method you choose, if you encounter issues, please see the Troubleshooting section.

Using make:
MSYS2 and Cygwin provide the Unix tools we need to build kubo. You may use either, but if you don't already have one installed, we recommend MSYS2.
MSYS2→
Cygwin→

Using build tools manually:
This section assumes you have a working version of go and git already setup. You may want to build this way if your environment restricts installing additional software, or if you're integrating IPFS into your own build system.
Minimal→

MSYS2

1. Install msys2 (http://www.msys2.org)
2. Run the following inside a normal cmd prompt (Not the MSYS2 prompt, we only need MSYS2's tools).
   An explanation of this block is below.

SET PATH=%PATH%;\msys64\usr\bin
pacman --noconfirm -S  git make unzip
go get -u github.com/ipfs/kubo
cd %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs\kubo
make install
%GOPATH%\bin\ipfs.exe version --all

If there were no errors, the final command should output version information similar to "ipfs version 0.4.14-dev-XXXXXXX" where "XXXXXXX" should match the current short-hash of the kubo repo. You can retrieve said hash via this command: git rev-parse --short HEAD.
If ipfs.exe executes and the version string matches, then building was successful.

Command	Explanation
SET PATH=%PATH%;\msys64\usr\bin	Add msys2's tools to our PATH; Defaults to: (\msys64\usr\bin)
pacman --noconfirm -S git make unzip	Install kubo build dependencies
go get -u github.com/ipfs/kubo	Fetch / Update kubo source
cd %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs\kubo	Change to kubo source directory
make install	Build and install to %GOPATH%\bin\ipfs.exe
%GOPATH%\bin\ipfs.exe version --all	Test the built binary

To build again after making changes to the source, run:

SET PATH=%PATH%;\msys64\usr\bin
cd %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs\kubo
make install

Tip: To avoid setting PATH every time (SET PATH=%PATH%;\msys64\usr\bin), you can lock it in permanently using setx after it's been set once:

SETX PATH %PATH%

Cygwin

1. Install Cygwin (https://www.cygwin.com)
2. During the install, select the following packages. (If you already have Cygwin installed, run the setup file again to install additional packages.) A fresh install should look something like this reference image.
   • devel packages
     • git
     • make
   • archive packages
     • unzip
   • net packages
     • curl
3. Run the following inside a normal cmd prompt (Not the Cygwin prompt, we only need Cygwin's tools)
   An explanation of this block is below.

SET PATH=%PATH%;\cygwin64\bin
mkdir %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs
cd %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs
git clone https://github.com/ipfs/kubo.git
cd %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs\kubo
make install
%GOPATH%\bin\ipfs.exe version --all

If there were no errors, the final command should output version information similar to "ipfs version 0.4.14-dev-XXXXXXX" where "XXXXXXX" should match the current short-hash of the kubo repo. You can retrieve said hash via this command: git rev-parse --short HEAD.
If ipfs.exe executes and the version string matches, then building was successful.

Command	Explanation
SET PATH=%PATH%;\cygwin64\bin	Add Cygwin's tools to our PATH; Defaults to: (\cygwin64\bin)
mkdir %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs cd %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs git clone https://github.com/ipfs/kubo.git	Fetch / Update kubo source
cd %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs\kubo	Change to kubo source directory
make install	Build and install to %GOPATH%\bin\ipfs.exe
%GOPATH%\bin\ipfs.exe version --all	Test the built binary

To build again after making changes to the source, run:

SET PATH=%PATH%;\cygwin64\bin
cd %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs\kubo
make install

Tip: To avoid setting PATH every time (SET PATH=%PATH%;\cygwin64\bin), you can lock it in permanently using setx after it's been set once:

SETX PATH %PATH%

Minimal

While it's possible to build kubo with go alone, we'll be using git to fetch the source.

You can use whichever version of git you wish but we recommend the Windows builds at https://git-scm.com. git must be in your PATH for go get to recognize and use it.

kubo

Clone and change directory to the source code, if you haven't already:

CMD:

git clone https://github.com/ipfs/kubo %GOPATH%/src/github.com/ipfs/kubo
cd %GOPATH%/src/github.com/ipfs/kubo/cmd/ipfs

PowerShell:

git clone https://github.com/ipfs/kubo $env:GOPATH/src/github.com/ipfs/kubo
cd $env:GOPATH/src/github.com/ipfs/kubo/cmd/ipfs

We need the git commit hash to be included in our build so that in the extremely rare event a bug is found, we have a reference point later for tracking it. We'll ask git for it and store it in a variable. The syntax for the next command is different depending on whether you're using the interactive command line or writing a batch file. Use the one that applies to you.

• interactive: FOR /F %V IN ('git rev-parse --short HEAD') do set SHA=%V
• interpreter: FOR /F %%V IN ('git rev-parse --short HEAD') do set SHA=%%V

Finally, we'll build and test ipfs itself.

CMD:

go install -ldflags="-X "github.com/ipfs/kubo".CurrentCommit=%SHA%"
%GOPATH%\bin\ipfs.exe version --all

PowerShell:

go install -ldflags="-X "github.com/ipfs/kubo".CurrentCommit=$env:SHA"
cp ./ipfs.exe $env:GOPATH/bin/ipfs.exe -force
. $env:GOPATH/bin/ipfs.exe version --all

You can check that the ipfs output versions match with go version and git rev-parse --short HEAD.
If ipfs.exe executes and everything matches, then building was successful.

Troubleshooting

• Git auth If you get authentication problems with Git, you might want to take a look at https://help.github.com/articles/caching-your-github-password-in-git/ and use the suggested solution:
  git config --global credential.helper wincred

• Anything else
  Please search https://discuss.ipfs.io for any additional issues you may encounter. If you can't find any existing resolution, feel free to post a question asking for help.

If you encounter a bug with kubo itself (not related to building) please use the issue tracker to report it.