content_install.html

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layout: default
title: Installation Instructions - SECONDO
description: extensible database system
---

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<h1> Installation Instructions </h1>

This page explains how to install <span class="secondo">Secondo</span> and the tools it
requires on your computer. The currently supported and CI-verified paths are a build from
sources on <b>Ubuntu / Debian</b>, precompiled <tt>.deb</tt> binary packages for Ubuntu,
and a build on <b>macOS</b> using <a href="https://brew.sh/">Homebrew</a>. Older
distributions are covered by the
<a href="content_install_legacy.html">historical installation guides</a>. The build of
<span class="secondo">Secondo</span> from sources itself is explained on the
<a href="content_sources.html">Sources</a> page.

<h2> Which installation is right for you? </h2>
<ul>
  <li> Just want to try <span class="secondo">Secondo</span> on Ubuntu &rarr;
       <a href="#deb">binary <tt>.deb</tt> packages (apt-get)</a> </li>
  <li> Build or extend <span class="secondo">Secondo</span> on Ubuntu / Debian &rarr;
       <a href="#ubuntu">installation from sources</a> </li>
  <li> macOS &rarr; <a href="#macos">installation with Homebrew</a> </li>
  <li> Older distributions (Fedora, SuSE, older Ubuntu) &rarr;
       <a href="content_install_legacy.html">historical installation guides</a> </li>
</ul>

<h2 id="ubuntu"> Installation on Ubuntu / Debian (from sources) </h2>

<p>
The steps below install the tools required to compile
<span class="secondo">Secondo</span> and then build the system from sources. They are
verified in continuous integration on <b>Ubuntu&nbsp;22.04, 24.04 and 26.04</b> (on the
Intel/AMD <code>x86_64</code> architecture). <b>Debian&nbsp;13 (Trixie)</b> works in exactly
the same way; the package names below are identical on Debian.
</p>

<ol>

<li>
<b>Install the build tools and libraries.</b> These include the C/C++ compiler, Berkeley&nbsp;DB,
the Boost libraries, a Java Development Kit (<code>default-jdk</code>) for the Java GUI, and
SWI-Prolog for the optimizer:
<pre>
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install flex bison gcc g++ build-essential \
    libdb5.3 libdb5.3-dev libdb5.3++ libdb5.3++-dev db5.3-util \
    libjpeg-dev libgsl0-dev libreadline-dev librecode-dev \
    libgmp-dev libgmp10 libncurses-dev libxml2-dev libboost-all-dev \
    libbison-dev libfl-dev libquadmath0 nlohmann-json3-dev \
    default-jdk swi-prolog swi-prolog-nox
</pre>
</li>

<li>
<b>Get the sources and build <span class="secondo">Secondo</span>.</b> The build
environment (compiler, Berkeley&nbsp;DB, SWI-Prolog paths, ...) is derived
automatically from the installed tools; you only have to set
<code>SECONDO_BUILD_DIR</code> and source the detection script:
<pre>
export SECONDO_BUILD_DIR=$HOME/secondo
source $SECONDO_BUILD_DIR/CM-Scripts/secondo-detect.sh
</pre>
It is convenient to add these two lines to your <code>~/.bashrc</code>, so the
environment is set up automatically in every new terminal:
<pre>
echo 'export SECONDO_BUILD_DIR=$HOME/secondo' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'source $SECONDO_BUILD_DIR/CM-Scripts/secondo-detect.sh' >> ~/.bashrc
</pre>
Then download the sources and build the system as described on the
<a href="content_sources.html">Sources</a> page (in short: run <code>make</code>
in <code>$SECONDO_BUILD_DIR</code>).
</li>

</ol>


<h2 id="deb"> Binary Installation via <tt>.deb</tt> Packages (Ubuntu, apt-get) </h2>

<p>
For users who just want to try <span class="secondo">Secondo</span> without compiling it,
we provide precompiled <tt>.deb</tt> packages for Ubuntu&nbsp;22.04, 24.04 and 26.04. They
install <span class="secondo">Secondo</span> and all of its dependencies within a few
minutes via <tt>apt-get</tt>, and are the recommended starting point for new users.
Developers who want to build their own extensions should instead build
<a href="#ubuntu">from sources</a> as described above.
</p>

<p>
See the
<a href="files/Installation/Ubuntu/content_Installation_repos.html">Ubuntu installation
guide using apt-get</a> for the full instructions. Note that these packages are built for
the <code>x86_64</code>/<code>amd64</code> architecture only; on other architectures
(e.g. arm64) please <a href="#ubuntu">build from sources</a>.
</p>


<h2 id="macos">Installation on macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon)</h2>

<p>
On macOS, all tools required by <span class="secondo">Secondo</span> are installed
with the <a href="https://brew.sh/">Homebrew</a> package manager &mdash; a separate
SDK download is no longer needed. The steps below are verified on
<b>macOS&nbsp;15 (Sequoia)</b> and <b>macOS&nbsp;26 (Tahoe)</b>, on both Intel
(x86_64) and Apple Silicon (arm64). Enter the commands
in a terminal.
</p>

<ol>

<li>
<b>Install the Xcode command line tools</b> (C/C++ compiler, <code>make</code>, system headers):
<pre>
xcode-select --install
</pre>
</li>

<li>
<b>Install Homebrew</b> (skip if it is already present); see
<a href="https://brew.sh/">brew.sh</a>:
<pre>
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
</pre>
</li>

<li>
<b>Install the build tools and libraries.</b> These include SWI-Prolog for the
optimizer and a Java Development Kit for the Java GUI:
<pre>
brew install flex bison berkeley-db gsl jpeg-turbo boost gmp \
     libxml2 readline nlohmann-json swi-prolog openjdk@21
</pre>
Homebrew's <code>flex</code>, <code>bison</code> and <code>openjdk@21</code> are
"keg-only" and are not put on the <code>PATH</code> automatically. Add flex and
bison to your <code>~/.zshrc</code>:
<pre>
echo 'export PATH="$(brew --prefix bison)/bin:$(brew --prefix flex)/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
</pre>
For the JDK, follow the <code>caveats</code> printed by Homebrew to make it visible
to the system (or install an equivalent JDK&nbsp;21, e.g. Temurin).
</li>

<li>
<b>Get the sources and build <span class="secondo">Secondo</span>.</b> The build
environment (compiler, Berkeley&nbsp;DB, SWI-Prolog paths, ...) is derived
automatically from the installed tools; you only have to set
<code>SECONDO_BUILD_DIR</code> and source the detection script:
<pre>
export SECONDO_BUILD_DIR=$HOME/secondo
source $SECONDO_BUILD_DIR/CM-Scripts/secondo-detect.sh
</pre>
It is convenient to add these two lines to your <code>~/.zshrc</code>, so the
environment is set up automatically in every new terminal:
<pre>
echo 'export SECONDO_BUILD_DIR=$HOME/secondo' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'source $SECONDO_BUILD_DIR/CM-Scripts/secondo-detect.sh' >> ~/.zshrc
</pre>
Then download the sources and build the system as described on the
<a href="content_sources.html">Sources</a> page (in short: run <code>make</code>
in <code>$SECONDO_BUILD_DIR</code>).
</li>

</ol>


<h3>Upgrading the macOS version</h3>

After an upgrade of the macOS operating system, the Xcode developer tools
have to be reinstalled. If you have upgraded your system and the call of <code> make </code>
produces the following error message:
<pre>
xcrun: error: invalid active developer path
</pre>
then you have to reinstall the Xcode developer tools. To do so, start a
terminal and enter:
<pre>
xcode-select --install
</pre>
In the upcoming dialog, click on the button <code>Installation</code> and wait until the
installation is finished. After that, the <code>make</code> process should run
as before.


<h2> Installation Guides for Historical Distributions </h2>

<p>
Older operating-system releases (Fedora, SuSE, and older Ubuntu versions) were installed
with per-version scripts that are no longer maintained. They are kept for reference on the
<a href="content_install_legacy.html">historical installation guides</a> page.
</p>


<div class="footnote">
 Last Changed: 2026-07-15 (JNI)
</div>