jennifer programming language

install

Install

Linux is the supported platform. Best-effort, unsupported macOS and Windows builds are attached to each release.

Every build, every release

Archives, .deb packages and a checksum for each of them are attached to the release itself - along with the unsupported macOS and Windows builds. Every download link on this page points at the newest one.

Releases on GitHub

Arch (AUR)

Prebuilt binary, fast install - or the source package that tracks main.

yay -S jennifer-bin
jennifer version

# or build from source, tracking main:
yay -S jennifer-git

Debian / Ubuntu

Pick the .deb for your architecture from the Releases page.

sudo dpkg -i jennifer_X.Y.Z_amd64.deb
jennifer version

Any Linux

Download, extract, run. Nothing is written outside the directory: x86-64 or arm64.

tar -xzf jennifer-X.Y.Z-linux-amd64.tar.gz
cd jennifer-X.Y.Z-linux-amd64
./jennifer version

macOS unsupported

There is no installer. An unsupported, best-effort build is attached to each release - the standard binary only, unsigned, so Gatekeeper quarantines it. Apple silicon or Intel.

tar -xzf jennifer-X.Y.Z-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./jennifer
./jennifer version

Windows unsupported

Also best-effort. Each release carries a setup.exe installer - it puts jennifer on the PATH, associates .j, and bundles the modules - or a portable zip if you would rather touch no registry. Unsigned, so SmartScreen asks; Windows 10 or newer.

# the installer, or the portable zip:
Expand-Archive jennifer-X.Y.Z-windows-amd64.zip
.\jennifer.exe version

From source

The developer path. Needs Go and TinyGo; builds both binaries side by side.

git clone https://github.com/jennifer-language/jennifer
cd jennifer
make build
./jennifer run examples/hello.j

Which binary?

Both binaries install side by side: jennifer is the default you reach for, jennifer-tiny is the smaller TinyGo build for embedded and minimal-container use (no os/exec, no network stack).

Check it worked

jennifer version
jennifer repl