# Installing the Validator Software

## Bootstrap with `solana-install`

The `solana-install` tool can be used to easily install and upgrade the validator
software on Linux x86_64 and mac OS systems.

```bash
$ curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solana-labs/solana/v0.18.0/install/solana-install-init.sh | sh -s
```

Alternatively build the `solana-install` program from source and run the
following command to obtain the same result:
```bash
$ solana-install init
```

After a successful install, `solana-install update` may be used to easily update the cluster
software to a newer version at any time.

## Download Prebuilt Binaries
If you would rather not use `solana-install` to manage the install, you can manually download and install the binaries.

### Linux
Download the binaries by navigating to
[https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/releases/latest](https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/releases/latest),
download **solana-release-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.bz2**, then extract the
archive:
```bash
$ tar jxf solana-release-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.bz2
$ cd solana-release/
$ export PATH=$PWD/bin:$PATH
```
### mac OS
Download the binaries by navigating to
[https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/releases/latest](https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/releases/latest),
download **solana-release-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.bz2**, then extract the
archive:
```bash
$ tar jxf solana-release-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.bz2
$ cd solana-release/
$ export PATH=$PWD/bin:$PATH
```

## Build From Source
If you are unable to use the prebuilt binaries or prefer to build it yourself
from source, navigate to
[https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/releases/latest](https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/releases/latest),
and download the **Source Code** archive.  Extract the code and build the
binaries with:
```bash
$ ./scripts/cargo-install-all.sh .
$ export PATH=$PWD/bin:$PATH
```

If building for CUDA (Linux only), fetch the perf-libs first then include the
`cuda` feature flag when building:
```bash
$ ./fetch-perf-libs.sh
$ source target/perf-libs/env.sh
$ ./scripts/cargo-install-all.sh . cuda
$ export PATH=$PWD/bin:$PATH
```
