* toc

# Installation Guide

## How to install

hledger works on GNU/linux, mac and windows.
Here are several ways to install it:

### a. With your system package manager

If you have a system package manager that includes hledger,
this will be the quickest and easiest way to install,
if you don't need the very latest version.
These are listed on [Download](download.html).

### b. Download binaries from hledger.org

Ready-to-run binaries for GNU/Linux, Mac OSX, and Microsoft Windows
are provided on a donation basis ([Download](download.html)).  These
are simple compressed executables (not installers), so after
downloading you may need to decompress, adjust permissions, and rename
the file. Eg:

    $ gunzip hledger-web-0.18.2-mac-x86_64.gz
    $ chmod +x hledger-web-0.18.2-mac-x86_64
    $ mv hledger-web-0.18.2-mac-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/hledger-web
    $ /usr/local/bin/hledger-web --version

### c. Build released source from Hackage

You can download and build the latest release yourself using [cabal](http://www.haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/),
the standard installer for Haskell software.
This is the most common way to install hledger, but not always the easiest;
use the troubleshooting tips below if needed.

Ensure you have [GHC](http://haskell.org/ghc) or
the [Haskell Platform](http://haskell.org/platform) installed.
Last time we checked, hledger requires GHC 7.2 or greater, and hledger-web requires GHC 7.4 or greater.
But using the current or previous major GHC version will very likely be easiest.

Also note that some Haskell packages depend on C packages, and cabal
currently isn't able to install or identify those for you. A common
issue is not having all the ncurses C libraries installed. A quick way
to ensure you have all required C libs is to
install hledger [with your system package manager](#a.-with-your-system-package-manager)
before installing the latest version with cabal.

Then install the hledger command-line tool:

    $ cabal update
    $ cabal install hledger [--dry-run]
    $ hledger --version

You should see the proper version reported.
If you get "could not resolve dependencies", "hledger not found",
or any other problem, see [troubleshooting](#troubleshooting).
Also note, to use non-ascii characters like £ in your data, you might need to [configure a suitable locale](MANUAL.html#locale).

#### Installing hledger-web

To also install the web interface, in theory just do:

    $ cabal install hledger-web

In practice, this is a real beast to keep working, so as of 2014/4/17 it's best to do it this way:

    $ cabal sandbox init             # start with a clean cabal package db, requires cabal 1.18
    $ cabal update
    $ cabal install -j alex happy    # update to alex 3.1 and happy 1.19
    $ cabal install -j hledger-web   # don't cabal install hledger first

This installs hledger and hledger-web. hledger-web will appear as the `web` command in hledger's commands list.

There are other [[start#add-on-commands|add-on packages]], hopefully compatible with the current hledger release and your platform.

### d. Build latest source from git

To download and build the latest development version of hledger, ensure you have
[git](http://git-scm.com) installed, then:

    $ git clone http://github.com/simonmichael/hledger.git
    $ cd hledger
    $ cabal update
    $ [optional: cabal sandbox init]
    $ cabal install ./hledger-lib ./hledger [./hledger-web]

The same [notes above](#install-from-hackage-with-cabal) about requirements and checking your installation apply. Note this time we mention `cabal sandbox`, a feature of cabal 1.18+ which can be used to reduce package dependency problems; it can be used when installing from Hackage as well.

## Troubleshooting

There are a lot of ways things can go wrong, especially if you are building from source.
Here are some known issues and things to try. Please also seek
[support](DEVELOPMENT.html#support) from the
[IRC channel](irc://irc.freenode.net/#ledger),
[mail list](http://hledger.org/list) or
[bug tracker](http://hledger.org/bugs).

Starting from the top, consider whether each of these might apply to
you. Tip: blindly reinstalling/upgrading everything in sight probably
won't work, it's better to go in small steps and understand the problem,
or get help.

### hledger not found ?
If cabal install succeeded but you get a message like "hledger not found" when you run hledger,
you should add cabal's bin directory to your PATH environment variable.
Eg on unix-like systems, something like:
```
$ echo 'export PATH=$PATH:~/cabal/bin' >> ~/.bash_profile
$ source ~/.bash_profile
```
On Ubuntu 14.04:
```
$ echo 'export PATH=~/.cabal/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
$ source ~/.bashrc
```
Test your PATH-variable with:
```
$ echo $PATH
```
### hledger --version shows wrong version ?
Perhaps you have multiple versions of hledger in your PATH. Eg you installed with the system package manager 
(to get C libs) and then with cabal (to get the latest version), but cabal's bin directory appears too late
in the PATH. Move it closer to the front.

### Did you cabal update ?
If not, `cabal update` and try again.

### Do you have a new enough version of GHC ?
Run `ghc --version`. hledger requires GHC 7.0 or greater
(and on [some platforms](#5551), 7.2.1+ can be helpful).

### Do you have a new enough version of cabal ?
Avoid ancient versions, which are less capable and more confusing.
`cabal --version` should ideally report at least 1.16 (or if you want to
do sandboxed installs, 1.18). You may be able to upgrade it with:
```
$ cabal update
$ cabal install cabal-install
```

### haskeline fails to install, requires Cabal >=1.16

Related to the above. haskeline, one of hledger's dependencies, claims
to require cabal-install version 1.16+, which is a problem if, say,
you are on Debian Wheezy and only have cabal-install version 0.14.
You can relax haskeline's version constraint like so:

```
cabal unpack haskeline
cd haskeline-X.Y
(edit haskeline.cabal, comment out the `Cabal-Version:  >=1.16` line)
cabal install
(resume installing hledger)
```

### Are your installed GHC/cabal packages in good repair ?
Run `ghc-pkg check`. If it reports problems, some of your packages have
become inconsistent, and you should fix these first.
[ghc-pkg-clean](https://gist.github.com/1185421) is an easy way.

### cabal says "rejecting: system-fileio-0.3.11, 0.3.10 (conflict: blah blah blah.."
system-fileio does not yet allow text 1.x, making cabal sweat.
If your cabal is modern enough, adding `--max-backjumps=10000` should help.
([more](https://groups.google.com/d/topic/hledger/FdWGTSAVzYU/discussion)).

### cabal can't satisfy the new dependencies due to old installed packages
Cabal dependency failures become more likely as you install more
packages over time. If `cabal install hledger-web --dry` says it can't
satisfy dependencies, you have this problem. You can:

- (a) try to understand which packages to remove (with `ghc-pkg unregister`)
   or which constraints to add (with `--constraint 'PKG == ...'`) to help cabal
   find a solution

- (b) install into a fresh cabal sandbox, created with `cabal sandbox init`.
   ([virthualenv](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/virthualenv) or
   [cabal-dev](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/cabal-dev) also work).

- or (c<!-- -->) (easiest) erase your installed packages with
   [ghc-pkg-reset](https://gist.github.com/1185421) and try again.

For more detail, see [How to cabal install](https://www.fpcomplete.com/user/simonmichael/how-to-cabal-install).

### Dependency or compilation error in one of the new packages ?
 If cabal starts downloading and building packages and then terminates
 with an error, look at the output carefully and identify the problem
 package(s).  If necessary, add `-v2` or `-v3` for more verbose
 output. You can install the new packages one at a time to troubleshoot,
 but remember cabal is smarter when installing all packages at once.

 Often the problem is that you need to install a particular C library
 using your platform's package management system. Or the dependencies
 specified on a package may need updating. Or there may be a compilation
 error.  If you find an error in a hledger package, check the
 [recent commits](http://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/commits) to
 see if the [latest development version](#installing) might have a fix.

### ExitFailure 11
See
[http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/ticket/777](http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/ticket/777).
This means that a build process has been killed, usually because it grew
too large.  This is common on memory-limited VPS's and with GHC 7.4.1.
Look for some memory-hogging processes you can kill, increase your RAM,
or limit GHC's heap size by doing `cabal install ... --ghc-options='+RTS
-M400m'` (400 megabytes works well on my 1G VPS, adjust up or down..)

### Can't load .so/.DLL for: ncursesw (/usr/lib/libncursesw.so: file too short)
(or similar): cf [GHC bug #5551](http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/5551).
Upgrade GHC to 7.2.1, or try your luck with [this workaround](http://eclipsefp.github.com/faq.html).

### Undefined iconv symbols on OS X
This kind of error:

    Linking dist/build/hledger/hledger ...
    Undefined symbols:
      "_iconv_close", referenced from:
          _hs_iconv_close in libHSbase-4.2.0.2.a(iconv.o)
      "_iconv", referenced from:
          _hs_iconv in libHSbase-4.2.0.2.a(iconv.o)
      "_iconv_open", referenced from:
          _hs_iconv_open in libHSbase-4.2.0.2.a(iconv.o)

probably means you are on a mac with macports libraries installed, cf
[http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/4068](http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/4068).
To work around temporarily, add this --extra-lib-dirs flag:

    $ cabal install hledger --extra-lib-dirs=/usr/lib

or permanently, add this to ~/.cabal/config:

    extra-lib-dirs: /usr/lib

### "invalid preprocessing directive" on OS X

> "I'm trying to cabal install hledger-web on OS X, GHC 7.6, and getting error: invalid preprocessing directive #{mixedAmountAsHtml amt}".

[Example](https://gist.github.com/miikka/8886233)

Certain OS X and GHC versions do not work well together ([cabal #1496](https://github.com/haskell/cabal/issues/1496), [ghc #7678](https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/7678)).
There's a fix for this in hledger HEAD as of 2014/2/8 (it's not in 0.22.1).
If you find more cases, please report it.

### Many warnings about "missing terminating ' character" on OS X

Related to the above problem, can be ignored.

### hledger-vty requires curses-related libraries
On Ubuntu, eg, you'll need the `libncurses5-dev` package. On Windows,
these are not available (unless perhaps via Cygwin.)

### hledger-chart requires GTK-related libraries
On Ubuntu, eg, install the `libghc6-gtk-dev` package. See also [Gtk2Hs installation notes](http://code.haskell.org/gtk2hs/INSTALL).

### error based on missing ncurses C libs on Ubuntu 14.04 trusty
The following solved my dependency-problem with ncurses (this was required even when I had installed hledger 0.22 via apt-get)
     sudo apt-get install libghc-hscurses-dev libghc-ncurses-dev