How to install the xPack Meson Build binaries

The recommended method is via xpm.

Overview

The xPack Meson Build can be installed automatically, via xpm (the recommended method), or manually, by downloading and unpacking one of the portable archives.

Easy install

The easiest way to install Meson is by using the binary xPack, available as @xpack-dev-tools/meson-build from the npmjs.com registry.

Prerequisites

The only requirement is a recent xpm, which is a portable Node.js command line application. To install it, follow the instructions from the xpm install page.

Install

With xpm available, installing the latest version of the package is quite easy:

$ xpm install --global @xpack-dev-tools/meson-build@latest --verbose

This command will always install the latest available version, in the central xPacks repository, which is a platform dependent folder (check the output of the xpm command for the actual folder used on your platform).

Tip: The install location can be configured using the XPACKS_REPO_FOLDER environment variable; for more details please check the xpm folders page.

Tip: The archive content is unpacked in a folder named .content. On some platforms this might be hidden for normal browsing, and require separate options (like ls -A) or, in file browsers, to enable settings like Show Hidden Files.

Uninstall

To remove the installed xPack, the command is similar:

$ xpm uninstall --global @xpack-dev-tools/meson-build --verbose

Note: Not yet implemented. As a temporary workaround, simply remove the xPacks/@xpack-dev-tools/meson-build folder, or one of the versioned subfolders.

Test

To check if the xpm installed Meson starts, use something like:

C:\>%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\xPacks\@xpack-dev-tools\0.55.3-1.1\.content\bin\meson.exe --version
0.55.3

Manual install

For all platforms, the xPack Meson Build binaries are released as portable archives that can be installed in any location.

The archives can be downloaded from the GitHub releases page.

Download

The Windows versions of xPack Meson Build are packed as ZIP files. Download the latest version named like:

xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1-win32-x64.zip
xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1-win32-x32.zip

Select the -x64 file for 64-bit Windows machines and the -x32 file for 32-bit Windows machines.

Note: In case you wonder where the suffix comes from, it is exactly the Node.js process.platform and process.arch. The win32 part is confusing, but we have to leave with it.

Unpack

Unpack the archive and copy it into the %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\xPacks\meson-build (for example C:\Users\ilg\AppData\Roaming\xPacks\meson-build) folder; according to Microsoft, AppData\Roaming is the recommended location for installing user specific packages.

Note: For manual installs, the recommended install location is slightly different from the xpm install folders, which use the scope (like @xpack-dev-tools) to group different tools, and .content to store the unpacked archive.

Test

To check if the manually installed Meson starts, use something like:

C:\>%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\xPacks\meson-build\xpack-meson-0.55.3-1\bin\meson.exe --version
0.55.3

Easy install

The easiest way to install Meson is by using the binary xPack, available as @xpack-dev-tools/meson-build from the npmjs.com registry.

Prerequisites

The only requirement is a recent xpm, which is a portable Node.js command line application. To install it, follow the instructions from the xpm install page.

Install

With xpm available, installing the latest version of the package is quite easy:

$ xpm install --global @xpack-dev-tools/meson-build@latest --verbose

Tip: The install location can be configured using the XPACKS_REPO_FOLDER environment variable; for more details please check the xpm folders page.

Uninstall

To remove the installed xPack, the command is similar:

$ xpm uninstall --global @xpack-dev-tools/meson-build --verbose

Note: Not yet implemented. As a temporary workaround, simply remove the xPacks/@xpack-dev-tools/meson-build folder, or one of the versioned subfolders.

Test

To check if the xpm installed Meson starts, use something like:

$ ~/opt/xPacks/@xpack-dev-tools/meson-build/0.55.3-1.1/.content/bin/meson --version
0.55.3

Manual install

For all platforms, the xPack Meson Build binaries are released as portable archives that can be installed in any location.

The archives can be downloaded from the GitHub releases page.

Download

The macOS version of xPack Meson Build is packed as a .tar.gz archive. Download the latest version named like:

xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1-darwin-x64.tgz

Unpack

To install Meson, unpack the archive and copy it to /${HOME}/opt/xPacks/meson-build/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1:

$ mkdir -p ~/opt
$ cd ~/opt

$ tar xvf ~/Downloads/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1-darwin-x64.tgz
$ chmod -R -w xPacks/meson-build/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1

Note: For manual installs, the recommended install location is different from the xpm install folders.

The result is a structure like:

$ tree -L 2 /Users/ilg/Library/xPacks/meson-build/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1
/Users/ilg/Library/xPacks/meson-build/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1/
├── README.md
├── bin
│   ├── libcrypt.2.dylib
│   ├── libgcc_s.1.dylib
│   ├── libpython3.8.dylib
│   └── meson
├── distro-info
│   ├── CHANGELOG.md
│   ├── licenses
│   ├── patches
│   └── scripts
└── lib
    └── python3.8

7 directories, 6 files

Test

To check if the manually installed Meson starts, use something like:

$ ~/opt/xPacks/meson-build/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1/bin/meson --version
0.5.3

Easy install

The easiest way to install Meson is by using the binary xPack, available as @xpack-dev-tools/meson-build from the npmjs.com registry.

Prerequisites

The only requirement is a recent xpm, which is a portable Node.js command line application. To install it, follow the instructions from the xpm install page.

Install

With xpm available, installing the latest version of the package is quite easy:

$ xpm install --global @xpack-dev-tools/meson-build@latest --verbose

Tip: The install location can be configured using the XPACKS_REPO_FOLDER environment variable; for more details please check the xpm folders page.

Uninstall

To remove the installed xPack, the command is similar:

$ xpm uninstall --global @xpack-dev-tools/meson-build --verbose

Note: Not yet implemented. As a temporary workaround, simply remove the xPacks/@xpack-dev-tools/meson-build folder, or one of the versioned subfolders.

Test

To check if the xpm installed Meson starts, use something like:

$ ~/opt/xPacks/@xpack-dev-tools/meson-build/0.55.3-1.1/.content/bin/meson --version
0.55.3

Manual install

For all platforms, the xPack Meson Build binaries are released as portable archives that can be installed in any location.

The archives can be downloaded from the GitHub releases page.

Download

The GNU/Linux versions of xPack Meson Build are packed as plain archives. Download the latest version named like:

xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1-linux-x64.tgz
xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1-linux-x32.tgz

As the name implies, these are GNU/Linux tar.gz archives; they were build on CentOS, but can be executed on most recent GNU/Linux distributions. Select the -x64 file for 64-bit machines and the -x32 file for 32-bit machines.

Unpack

To install Meson, unpack the archive and move it to /${HOME}/opt/xPacks/meson-build/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1:

$ mkdir -p ~/opt
$ cd ~/opt

$ tar xvf ~/Downloads/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1-linux-x64.tgz
$ chmod -R -w xPacks/meson-build/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1

$ tree -L 2 '/home/ilg/opt/xPacks/meson-build/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1'
/home/ilg/opt/xPacks/meson-build/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1/
├── bin
│   └── meson
├── distro-info
│   ├── CHANGELOG.md
│   ├── licenses
│   ├── patches
│   └── scripts
├── lib
│   └── python3.8
└── README.md

7 directories, 3 files

Test

To check if the manually installed Meson starts, use something like:

$ ~/opt/xPacks/meson-build/xpack-meson-build-0.55.3-1/bin/meson --version
0.55.3

Testing

TODO

Edit

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