# Installation

Nimbus beacon chain can run on Linux, MacOS, Windows, and Andriod. At the moment, Nimbus has to be built from source.

## External Dependencies 
- Developer tools (C compiler, Make, Bash, Git)
- PCRE
Nim is not an external dependency, Nimbus will build its own local copy.

## Linux

On common Linux distributions the dependencies can be installed with:
```sh
# Debian and Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install build-essential git libpcre3-dev

# Fedora
dnf install @development-tools pcre

# Archlinux, using an AUR manager for pcre-static
yourAURmanager -S base-devel pcre-static
```

### MacOS

Assuming you use [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/) to manage packages

```sh
brew install pcre
```

### Windows

You can install the developer tools by following the instruction in our [Windows dev environment section](./advanced.md#windows-dev-environment).
It also provides a downloading script for prebuilt PCRE.

### Android

* Install the [Termux](https://termux.com) app from FDroid or the Google Play store
* Install a [PRoot](https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot) of your choice following the instructions for your preferred distribution. 
Note, the Ubuntu PRoot is known to contain all Nimbus prerequisites compiled on Arm64 architecture (common architecture for Android devices).  

*Assuming Ubuntu PRoot is used*

```sh
apt install build-essential git libpcre3-dev
```