Zig Version Manager (zvm) is a tool for managing your Zig installs. With std under heavy development and a large feature roadmap, Zig is bound to continue changing. Breaking existing builds, updating valid syntax, and introducing new features like a package manager. While this is great for developers, it also can lead to headaches when you need multiple versions of a language installed to compile your projects, or a language gets updated frequently.
ZVM lives entirely in $HOME/.zvm on all platforms it supports. Inside of the
directory, ZVM will download new ZIG versions and symlink whichever version you
specify with zvm use to $HOME/.zvm/bin. You should add this folder to your
path. After ZVM 0.2.3, ZVM's installer will now add ZVM to $HOME/.zvm/self.
You should also add this directory as the environment variable ZVM_INSTALL.
The installer scripts should handle this for you automatically on *nix and
Windows systems.
If you don't want to use ZVM_INSTALL (like you already have ZVM in a place you
like), then ZVM will update the exact executable you've called upgrade from.
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tristanisham/zvm/master/install.sh | bashirm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tristanisham/zvm/master/install.ps1 | iexpowershell -c "irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tristanisham/zvm/master/install.ps1 | iex"go install -ldflags "-s -w" github.com/tristanisham/zvm@latestPlease grab the latest release.
ZVM requires a few directories to be on your $PATH. If you don't know how to
update your environment variables permanently on Windows, you can follow
this guide. Once you're in
the appropriate menu, add or append to the following environment variables:
Add
- ZVM_INSTALL:
%USERPROFILE%\.zvm\self
Append
- PATH:
%USERPROFILE%\.zvm\bin - PATH:
%ZVM_INSTALL%
It is possible to overwrite the default behavior of ZVM to adhere to XDG
specification on Linux. There'
8000
s an environment variable ZVM_PATH. Setting it
to $XDG_DATA_HOME/zvm will do the trick.
zvm on the Arch AUR is a
community-maintained package, and may be out of date.
While Zig is still pre-1.0 if you're going to stay up-to-date with the master
branch, you're going to be downloading Zig quite often. You could do it
manually, having to scoll around to find your appropriate version, decompress
it, and install it on your $PATH. Or, you could install ZVM and run
zvm i master every time you want to update. zvm is a static binary under a
permissive license. It supports more platforms than any other Zig version
manager. Its only dependency is tar on Unix-based systems. Whether you're on
Windows, MacOS, Linux, a flavor of BSD, or Plan 9 zvm will let you install,
switch between, and run multiple versions of Zig.
zvm is stable software. Pre-v1.0.0 any breaking changes will be clearly
labeled, and any commands potentially on the chopping block will print notice.
The program is under constant development, and the author is very willing to
work with contributors. If you have any issues, ideas, or contributions you'd
like to suggest
create a GitHub issue.
zvm install <version>
# Or
zvm i <version>Use install or i to download a specific version of Zig. To install the
latest version, use "master".
# Example
zvm i masterAs of v0.7.6 ZVM will now skip downloading a version if it is already
installed. You can always force an install with the --force or -f flag.
zvm i --force masterYou can also enable the old behavior by setting the new alwaysForceInstall
field to true in ~/.zvm/settings.json.
You can now install ZLS with your Zig download! To install ZLS with ZVM, simply
pass the --zls flag with zvm i. For example:
zvm i --zls masterBy default, ZVM will install a ZLS build, which can be used with the given Zig
version, but may not be able to build ZLS from source. If you want to use a ZLS
build, which can be built using the selected Zig version, pass the --full flag
with zvm i --zls. For example:
zvm i --zls --full masterImportant
This does not apply to tagged releases, e.g.: 0.13.0
zvm use <version>Use use to switch between versions of Zig.
# Example
zvm use master# Example
zvm lsUse ls to list all installed version of Zig.
zvm ls --allThe --all flag will list the available verisons of Zig for download. Not the
versions locally installed.
zvm ls --vmuThe --vmu flag will list set version maps for Zig and ZLS downloads.
# Example
zvm rm 0.10.0Use uninstall or rm to remove an uninstalled version from your system.
As of zvm v0.2.3 you can now upgrade your ZVM installation from, well, zvm.
Just run:
zvm upgradeThe latest version of ZVM should install on your machine, regardless of where
your binary lives (though if you have your binary in a privaledged folder, you
may have to run this command with sudo).
# Example
zvm cleanUse clean to remove build artifacts (Good if you're on Windows).
If you want to run a version of Zig without setting it as your default, the new
run command is your friend.
zig version
# 0.13.0
zvm run 0.11.0 version
# 0.11.0
zig version
# 0.13.0This can be helpful if you want to test your project on a newer version of Zig without having to switch between bins, or on alternative flavor of Zig.
Make sure you switch your VMU before using run.
zvm vmu zig mach
run mach-latest version
# 0.14.0-dev.1911+3bf89f55cIf you would like to run the currently set Zig, please keep using the standard
zig command.
ZVM lets choose your vendor for Zig and ZLS. This is great if your company hosts it's own internal fork of Zig, you prefer a different flavor of the language, like Mach.
zvm vmu zig "https://machengine.org/zig/index.json" # Change the source ZVM pulls Zig release information from.
zvm vmu zls https://validurl.local/vmu.json
# ZVM only supports schemas that match the offical version map schema.
# Run `vmu default` to reset your version map.
zvm vmu zig default # Resets back to default Zig releases.
zvm vmu zig mach # Sets ZVM to pull from Mach nominated Zig.
zvm vmu zls default # Resets back to default ZLS releases.Print global help information by running:
zvm --helpPrint help information about a specific command or subcommand.
zvm list --helpNAME:
zvm list - list installed Zig versions. Flag `--all` to see remote options
USAGE:
zvm list [command options] [arguments...]
OPTIONS:
--all, -a list remote Zig versions available for download, based on your version map (default: false)
--vmu list set version maps (default: false)
--help, -h show help
zvm --versionPrints the version of ZVM you have installed.
Enable or disable colored ZVM output. No value toggles colors.
- on
- yes/y
- enabled
- true
- off
- no/n
- disabled
- false
--color # Toggle ANSI color printing on or off for ZVM's output, i.e. --color=trueZVM_DEBUGenables DEBUG logging for your executable. This is meant for contributors and developers.ZVM_SET_CUToggle the automatic upgrade checker. If you want to reenable the checker, justuset ZVM_SET_CU.ZVM_PATHreplaces the default install location for ZVM Set the environment variable to the parent directory of where you've placed the.zvmdirectory.ZVM_SKIP_TLS_VERIFYDo you have problems using TLS in your evironment? Toggle off verifying TLS by setting this environment variable.- By default when this is enabled ZVM will print a warning. Set this variable
to
no-warnto silence this warning.
- By default when this is enabled ZVM will print a warning. Set this variable
to
ZVM has additional setting stored in ~/.zvm/settings.json. You can manually
update version maps, toggle color support, and disable the automatic upgrade
checker here. All settings are also exposed as flags or environment variables.
This file is stateful, and ZVM will create it if it does not exist and utilizes
it for its operation.