It follows the UNIX philosophy of [do one thing and do it well](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy#Do_One_Thing_and_Do_It_Well). Similar in scope to [rustup](https://github.com/rust-lang-nursery/rustup.rs), [pyenv](https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv) and [jenv](http://www.jenv.be).
If you want to know what these scripts do, check out the [source code at the repository](https://gitlab.haskell.org/haskell/ghcup-hs/-/tree/master/scripts/bootstrap). Advanced users may want to perform a [manual installation](#manual-install) and GPG verify the binaries.
GHCup has two main channels for every tool: **recommended** and **latest**. By default, it installs *recommended*.
*latest* follows the latest release of every tool, while *recommended* is at the discretion of the GHCup maintainers and based on community adoption (hackage libraries, tools like HLS, stackage support, etc.) and known bugs.
Also see [tags and shortcuts](../guide/#tags-and-shortcuts) for more information.
The following distro packages are required: `build-essential curl libffi-dev libffi6 libgmp-dev libgmp10 libncurses-dev libncurses5 libtinfo5`
### Linux Ubuntu
The following distro packages are required: `build-essential curl libffi-dev libffi6 libgmp-dev libgmp10 libncurses-dev libncurses5 libtinfo5`
### Linux Fedora
The following distro packages are required: `gcc gcc-c++ gmp gmp-devel make ncurses ncurses-compat-libs xz perl`
### Linux CentOS
The following distro packages are required: `gcc gcc-c++ gmp gmp-devel make ncurses ncurses-compat-libs xz perl`
### Linux Alpine
The following distro packages are required: `binutils-gold curl gcc g++ gmp-dev libc-dev libffi-dev make musl-dev ncurses-dev perl tar xz`
### Linux (generic)
You need the following packages: curl g++ gcc gmp make ncurses realpath xz-utils. Consult your distro documentation on the exact names of those packages.
### Darwin
On OS X, in the course of running ghcup you will be given a dialog box to install the command line tools. Accept and the requirements will be installed for you. You will then need to run the command again.
On Darwin M1 you might also need a working llvm installed (e.g. via brew) and have the toolchain exposed in PATH.
### FreeBSD
The following distro packages are required: `curl gcc gmp gmake ncurses perl5 libffi libiconv`
### Windows
On Windows, msys2 should already have been set up during the installation, so most users should just proceed. If you are installing manually, make sure to have a working mingw64 toolchain and shell.
If you want to GPG verify the binaries, import the following keys first: `7784930957807690A66EBDBE3786C5262ECB4A3F` and `FE5AB6C91FEA597C3B31180B73EDE9E8CFBAEF01`.
The developers of the Haskell Language Server offer an [extension](https://github.com/haskell/vscode-haskell) tightly integrated with the [Haskell Language Server](https://github.com/haskell/haskell-language-server). To get started:
1. Install GHCup. During installation, opt in to install the Haskell Language Server (HLS).
2. Install the extension (from VSCode: Ctrl + P and then `ext install haskell.haskell`).
3. Make sure your project uses the GHC version installed from GHCup (otherwise HLS is likely to fail on launch):
- instructions for [stack](https://docs.haskellstack.org/en/stable/yaml_configuration/#system-ghc)
On Linux, some users have reported an issue when VSCode is not launched from a terminal ("cannot find ghc version"). A solution is to [let HLS know about your GHCup on $PATH](https://github.com/haskell/vscode-haskell#stackcabalghc-can-not-be-found).