There are a number of methods available to install Julia that each have their own advantages:
::: tip Note
It is NOT recommended to install Julia from your distribution's package manager, as no such installation is officially endorsed by the Julia project and thus may be out-of-date and broken/unmaintained!
:::
juliaup is a Julia manager/version multiplexer tool designed to handle your Julia installation from the command-line. It is the easiest and most convenient installation option, and is available on almost all platforms that support Julia.
curl -fsSL https://install.julialang.org | sh
winget install julia -s msstore
juliaup via the Cargo package manager:::: warning Warning
This is not a recommended option as this will involve compiling the actual juliaup executable on your machine
:::
cargo install juliaup
You can use the first and last commands listed to install Julia via juliaup in a container (see Docker/Podman below)
An official Docker image is available, allowing you to build containers with Julia already installed. This can be a preferred method of installation if you wish to test out Julia in a sandboxed, ephemeral (temporary) instance or are looking to include Julia in a containerized application.
You must first download the image via the Docker or Podman command-line tool:
::: tip Note
If you are using Podman, you can replace the keyword docker with podman in any of the following commands!
:::
docker pull julia:latest
You can specify which version of the image you wish to install via tags, such as latest, rc, 1.6, etc.
To create a container instance, run the following command:
::: tip Note
You may skip the previous step if you have not already downloaded the image, Docker/Podman will automatically begin installing it for you here!
:::
docker run -it --rm --network host julia:latest
The above command creates an interactive container that will be deleted the moment you exit via the --rm option and that will also share the same network namespace as your machine via the --network host option (allow for automatic port bindings). You may remove either option to disable their respective behaviours.
The image itself can serve as a base for your custom container built from a Dockerfile/Containerfile:
FROM julia:latest
# ...
If you wish to use a different image as the basis of your container, yet still require Julia, you can use any of the other installation methods listed in this section in your Dockerfile/Containerfile. A few examples with juliaup:
# First option: Install juliaup via curl
FROM ubuntu:latest
RUN apt update && \
apt install -y curl && \
curl -fsSL https://install.julialang.org | sh -s -- -y # install juliaup non-interactively
RUN juliaup add release
# Second option: install juliaup in a Rust image (not recommended)
FROM rust:latest
RUN cargo install juliaup
You can also install Julia as a downloadable executable from the Julia website's Download section. You must make sure to install the correct Julia build for your machine based on:
native instruction set (x86_64, i686, ARM, Apple Silicon, PowerPC)
operating system type (Windows, MacOS, Linux (Glibc), Linux (Musl), FreeBSD)
bit compute type (32-bit, 64-bit)
desired level of support (Tier 1 (guaranteed to build and pass all tests) through Tier 4)
Make sure to follow the exact installation steps for your machine in order to ensure the best experience.
For building/testing purposes, you may build Julia from the source code that is fully available in the Julia GitHub repository. Simply enter git clone https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia.git to copy the entire source on your machine, create a new git branch via git checkout -b name-of-branch, add your modifications, and run make to start the Makefile build.