# Compiling GTKWave 4

GTKWave 4 is the development version with a lots of 
improvements and changes. Please refer to the
[changelog](https://github.com/gtkwave/gtkwave/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md)
for all notable changes.

## Installing dependencies

Debian, Ubuntu:

```bash
sudo apt install \
    build-essential \
    git \
    meson \
    gperf \
    flex \
    desktop-file-utils \
    libbz2-dev \
    libgtk-3-dev \
    libgtk-4-dev \    
    libgirepository1.0-dev \
    libjson-glib-dev
```

Fedora:

```bash
sudo dnf install \
    gcc \
    gcc-c++ \
    tcl \
    meson \
    gperf \
    flex \
    desktop-file-utils \
    glib2-devel \
    gtk3-devel \
    gtk4-devel \
    gobject-introspection-devel \
    json-glib-devel
```

## Compiling and Installing

Clone the sources from the git repository:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/gtkwave/gtkwave/ gtkwave
cd gtkwave
```

After doing this, you must decide how you're going
to install GTKWave onto your system. By default, the
software is installed in `/usr/local/`. If you wish to
install into a specific prefix, use the double dash
\--*prefix* option to point to the absolute pathname.

For example, to install in `/opt`

```bash
meson setup build --prefix=/opt
```

Or, to install GTKWave globally

```bash
meson setup build
```

After that

```bash
meson compile -C build
```

Then wait for the compile to finish. This will take some amount of time.

To install GTKWave, run

```bash
sudo meson install -C build
```

GTKWave is now installed on your Unix or Linux system. You can
find it in your Application launcher.