In this guide, we will get Links installed. We recommend Links can be installed using the Opam tool, which is used to distribute OCaml packages.
Links is supported on Linux and Mac OSX. On Windows, we recommend using Windows Subsystem for Linux.
We recommend installing OPAM using the script referred to on the OPAM installation pages. OPAM installations on Linux distribution repositories tend to be out of date, and Links requires at least OPAM 2.
An OPAM "switch" refers to an environment for a particular compiler.
Once OPAM is installed, be sure to execute opam init.
A dependency of OPAM 2 is the bubblewrap sandboxing tool. If you are on Ubuntu 16.04, unfortunately this is not available from the default repositories. You can, however, add a custom repository.
You will need the m4 package, and gcc.
Once the system dependencies are installed, you can install Links from OPAM by writing:
opam install links
This will install Links and its files into your OPAM switch. The
environment variable $OPAM_SWITCH_PREFIX points to your current
active switch. Links files install to several locations inside an OPAM
switch:
- The executable is called
linxand goes into$OPAM_SWITCH_PREFIX/bin - The Links prelude and JavaScript libraries go into
$OPAM_SWITCH_PREFIX/lib/links - The example Links programs go into
$OPAM_SWITCH_PREFIX/share/links - Links configuration file goes into
$OPAM_SWITCH_PREFIX/etc/links
If your opam switch is set up correctly, you should be able to get to the
Links REPL by typing linx at a command line. If not, writing eval $(opam
env) should set the system path correctly.
Links supports interfacing with databases. The database drivers are not installed by default.
Running:
opam install links-postgresql
will install the postgresql library, the required Links PostgreSQL driver,
and recompile links to allow it to use the driver.
Once you have installed Links, see the pages on :ref:`getting_started`.