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Installation

Download a prebuilt binary for Windows, macOS or Linux, or build Arca from source with Cargo.

Last updated

Every release ships prebuilt binaries for Windows, macOS and Linux. You can also build Arca from source with a stock Rust toolchain.

Download a release

Get the file for your platform from the latest release:

PlatformFileNotes
Windowsarca-setup-<version>-x86_64.exeInstaller, x86_64
Windowsarca-v<version>-windows-x86_64.zipPortable, no installer
macOSarca-v<version>-macos-arm64.tar.gzApple silicon
macOS Intelarca-v<version>-macos-x86_64.tar.gzIntel
Linuxarca-v<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gzx86_64
Linux ARMarca-v<version>-linux-arm64.tar.gzarm64
Linuxarca-v<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImageDesktop window, any distribution; also linux-arm64
Debian, Ubuntuarca_<version>-1_amd64.debPackage; also arm64
Fedora, openSUSEarca-<version>-1.x86_64.rpmPackage; also aarch64

Every asset for every version, with its SHA-256 digest, is on the releases page. Each one also carries a build provenance attestation, which gh attestation verify <file> -R beyondhumane/arca checks.

On Linux the desktop window needs glibc 2.35 or newer (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, current Fedora, Arch and openSUSE) and the command line 2.34, so it also runs on RHEL 9. Older systems, such as Debian 11, can build from source.

Windows

Run the installer. It’s produced with Inno Setup from windows/arca.iss and sets Arca up together with the Explorer context menu; see Windows integration.

Linux packages

The .deb and .rpm install both binaries into /usr/bin and add Arca to the applications menu:

Terminal
sudo apt install ./arca_*_amd64.deb      # Debian, Ubuntusudo dnf install ./arca-*.x86_64.rpm     # Fedorasudo zypper install ./arca-*.x86_64.rpm  # openSUSE

The AppImage needs no installation. Make it executable and run it; --cli runs the command line instead of the window:

Terminal
chmod +x arca-v*-linux-x86_64.AppImage./arca-v*-linux-x86_64.AppImage./arca-v*-linux-x86_64.AppImage --cli --help

macOS and Linux

Download the tarball for your platform, unpack it, and put the arca binary somewhere on your PATH:

Terminal
tar -xzf arca-v*-linux-x86_64.tar.gz# then move the arca binary onto your PATH, for example:sudo mv arca /usr/local/bin/

Nix

On NixOS or any Linux with Nix and flakes enabled, the repository is a flake. It builds both programs from source and installs the desktop entry:

Terminal
nix run github:beyondhumane/arca              # opens the windownix run github:beyondhumane/arca#arca -- --helpnix profile install github:beyondhumane/arca  # installs arca and arca-gui

nix develop gives a shell with the Rust toolchain and the tools interop.sh and bench.sh compare against.

Build from source

You need Rust 1.95 or newer. The default build also compiles libzstd, so a C compiler (cc, clang or MSVC) must be available.

Terminal
git clone https://github.com/beyondhumane/arcacd arcacargo build --release      # binary at target/release/arca

Two build profiles

ProfileCommandWhat you get
Defaultcargo build --releaseNative Zstandard codecs and read-only RAR.
Pure-Rust codecs with RARcargo build --release --no-default-features --features rarNo native ZIP/7z codecs; retains the RAR reader.
No default featurescargo build --release --no-default-featuresNo native ZIP/7z codecs or RAR reader.

Use --no-default-features --features codecs-native to exclude only RAR.

Verify your build

Terminal
cargo test --workspacebash interop.sh            # the phase acceptance criterion

interop.sh round-trips archives through the system’s zip, unzip, tar and 7-Zip, so have them installed first. See Interoperability for what it checks.

About the release profile

Release builds use fat LTO, a single codegen unit, panic = "abort" and stripped symbols, tuned for requirement R1 (startup) and R3/R4 (throughput).

TOML
[profile.release]opt-level = 3lto = "fat"codegen-units = 1panic = "abort"strip = true