\chapter{Building darcs}
If your distribution provides a pre-built binary package of a recent
Darcs release, you are strongly encouraged to use that rather than
building Darcs yourself.

If you have (or can install) the
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{Haskell Platform}{http://haskell.org/platform/}
this is the next best option, as this will resolve build dependencies
automatically.  To download, compile and install Darcs and its
dependencies via \texttt{cabal-install}, the build tool provided by the
Haskell Platform, simply run
\begin{verbatim}
cabal update
cabal install darcs
\end{verbatim}

If you cannot install the Haskell Platform or \texttt{cabal-install}, you need to run
\begin{verbatim}
ghc --make Setup
./Setup configure
./Setup build
./Setup install
\end{verbatim}

This will require the following build dependencies:
\begin{itemize}
\item GHC 6.10 or higher; and
\item Cabal 1.6 or higher.
\end{itemize}

Additional build dependencies are declared in the \texttt{darcs.cabal}
file, and \texttt{./Setup configure} will tell you if any required
build dependencies aren't found.
