---
layout: documentation
title: Installing Bazel on Ubuntu
---
# Install Bazel on Ubuntu
Supported Ubuntu Linux platforms:
* 16.04 (LTS)
* 15.10
* 14.04 (LTS)
Install Bazel on Ubuntu using one of the following methods:
* [Use our custom APT repository (recommended)](#install-on-ubuntu)
* [Use the binary installer](#install-with-installer-ubuntu)
* [Compile Bazel from source](#install-compile-source.md)
Bazel comes with two completion scripts. After installing Bazel, you can:
* access the [bash completion script](install.md)
* install the [zsh completion script](install.md)
## Using Bazel custom APT repository (recommended)
### 1. Add Bazel distribution URI as a package source (one time setup)
```
echo "deb [arch=amd64] http://storage.googleapis.com/bazel-apt stable jdk1.8" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bazel.list
curl https://bazel.build/bazel-release.pub.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
```
If you want to use the JDK 7, please replace `jdk1.8` with `jdk1.7` and if you
want to install the testing version of Bazel, replace `stable` with `testing`.
### 2. Install and update Bazel
```bash
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install bazel
```
Once installed, you can upgrade to newer version of Bazel with:
```bash
sudo apt-get upgrade bazel
```
## Install with installer
We provide binary installers on our
GitHub releases page
The installer only contains Bazel binary, some additional libraries are required
to be installed on the machine to work.
### 1. Install JDK 8
To install OpenJDK 8:
```
sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk
```
### 2. Install other required packages
```
sudo apt-get install pkg-config zip g++ zlib1g-dev unzip
```
### 3. Download Bazel
Download the [Bazel installer](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases) for
your operating system.
### 4. Run the installer
Run the installer:
```bash
chmod +x bazel--installer-.sh
./bazel--installer-.sh --user
```
The `--user` flag installs Bazel to the `$HOME/bin` directory on your system and
sets the `.bazelrc` path to `$HOME/.bazelrc`. Use the `--help` command to see
additional installation options.
### 5. Set up your environment
If you ran the Bazel installer with the `--user` flag as above, the Bazel
executable is installed in your `$HOME/bin` directory. It's a good idea to add
this directory to your default paths, as follows:
```bash
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/bin"
```
You can also add this command to your `~/.bashrc` file.