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layout: documentation title: Installing Bazel on Ubuntu

Install Bazel on Ubuntu

Supported Ubuntu Linux platforms:

• 16.04 (LTS)
• 14.04 (LTS)

Install Bazel on Ubuntu using one of the following methods:

• Use our custom APT repository (recommended)
• Use the binary installer
• Compile Bazel from source

Bazel comes with two completion scripts. After installing Bazel, you can:

• access the bash completion script
• install the zsh completion script

Using Bazel custom APT repository (recommended)

1. Install JDK 8

Install JDK 8 by using:

sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk

On Ubuntu 14.04 LTS you'll have to use a PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer

2. Add Bazel distribution URI as a package source (one time setup)

echo "deb [arch=amd64] http://storage.googleapis.com/bazel-apt stable jdk1.8" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bazel.list
curl https://bazel.build/bazel-release.pub.gpg | sudo apt-key add -

If you want to install the testing version of Bazel, replace stable with testing.

3. Install and update Bazel

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install bazel

Once installed, you can upgrade to a newer version of Bazel with:

sudo apt-get upgrade bazel

Install using binary installer

The binary installers are on Bazel's GitHub releases page.

The installer contains the Bazel binary and the required JDK. Some additional libraries must also be installed for Bazel to work.

1. Install required packages

sudo apt-get install pkg-config zip g++ zlib1g-dev unzip python

2. Download Bazel

Go to Bazel's GitHub releases page.

Download the binary installer bazel-0.5.4-installer-linux-x86_64.sh. This installer contains the Bazel binary and the required JDK, and can be used even if JDK is already installed.

Note that bazel-0.5.4-without-jdk-installer-linux-x86_64.sh also exists. It is a version without embedded JDK 8. Only use this installer if you already have JDK 8 installed.

3. Run the installer

Run the installer:

chmod +x bazel-0.5.4-installer-linux-x86_64.sh
./bazel-0.5.4-installer-linux-x86_64.sh --user

The --user flag installs Bazel to the $HOME/bin directory on your system and sets the .bazelrc path to $HOME/.bazelrc. Use the --help command to see additional installation options.

4. Set up your environment

If you ran the Bazel installer with the --user flag as above, the Bazel executable is installed in your $HOME/bin directory. It's a good idea to add this directory to your default paths, as follows:

export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/bin"

You can also add this command to your ~/.bashrc file.