Installation Guide - Ovie Programming Language

🎉 Self-Hosted Compiler!

You're installing a programming language that can compile itself! The Ovie compiler is written in Ovie, making it a truly sovereign programming language.

Quick Installation

🚀 One-Line Install Recommended

The fastest way to get Ovie up and running on your system.

curl -sSL https://install.ovie-lang.org | sh

This script will:

Download the latest Ovie release
Install the compiler and CLI tools
Add Ovie to your PATH
Set up the standard library

PowerShell (Run as Administrator):

iwr -useb https://install.ovie-lang.org/install.ps1 | iex

Command Prompt:

@"%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "iwr -useb https://install.ovie-lang.org/install.ps1 | iex"

Alternative Installation Methods

📦 Package Managers

Install Ovie using your system's package manager.

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install ovie-lang

Chocolatey (Windows)

choco install ovie

Scoop (Windows)

scoop install ovie

APT (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ovie

YUM/DNF (RHEL/Fedora)

sudo dnf install ovie

🔧 Build from Source

For complete control and offline installation.

Prerequisites

Rust 1.70+ (for bootstrap compiler)
Git
Make
LLVM 15+ (optional, for LLVM backend)

Build Steps

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/southwarridev/ovie.git
cd ovie

# Build the project
make build

# Install system-wide
sudo make install

# Or install to user directory
make install PREFIX=~/.local

💡 Self-Hosting Build

The build process uses the Rust bootstrap compiler first, then rebuilds using the self-hosted Ovie compiler for maximum authenticity!

🐳 Docker

Run Ovie in a containerized environment.

# Pull the official image
docker pull ovie/ovie:latest

# Run interactively
docker run -it ovie/ovie:latest

# Run a specific file
docker run -v $(pwd):/workspace ovie/ovie:latest ovie run /workspace/main.ov

Verification

After installation, verify that Ovie is working correctly:

# Check version
ovie --version

# Expected output:
# Ovie Programming Language v1.0.0
# Self-hosted compiler (written in Ovie)
# Build: 2026-01-30

# Check available commands
ovie --help

# Test with a simple program
echo 'seeAm "Hello from Ovie!"' > test.ov
ovie run test.ov

✅ Installation Successful!

If you see the version information and can run the test program, Ovie is successfully installed!

System Requirements

Minimum Requirements

OS: Windows 10+, macOS 10.15+, Linux (any modern distribution)
RAM: 512 MB available memory
Storage: 100 MB free space
CPU: x86_64 or ARM64 architecture

Recommended Requirements

RAM: 2 GB+ for large projects
Storage: 1 GB+ for development
CPU: Multi-core processor for faster compilation

Configuration

Environment Variables

Ovie respects these environment variables:

OVIE_HOME - Ovie installation directory
OVIE_PATH - Additional library search paths
OVIE_CACHE - Compilation cache directory
OVIE_LOG - Logging level (debug, info, warn, error)

Configuration File

Global configuration is stored in:

Unix/Linux/macOS: ~/.config/ovie/config.toml
Windows: %APPDATA%\Ovie\config.toml

# Example config.toml
[compiler]
optimization_level = 2
target = "native"
debug_info = true

[paths]
stdlib = "/usr/local/lib/ovie/std"
cache = "~/.cache/ovie"

[features]
aproko_assistant = true
self_hosting = true

IDE Integration

Visual Studio Code

# Install the Ovie extension
code --install-extension ovie-lang.ovie-vscode

Vim/Neovim

# Using vim-plug
Plug 'ovie-lang/vim-ovie'

Emacs

# Using package.el
M-x package-install RET ovie-mode RET

Troubleshooting

⚠️ Common Issues

Command not found: ovie

The installation didn't add Ovie to your PATH. Add this to your shell profile:

export PATH="$HOME/.ovie/bin:$PATH"

Permission denied

On Unix systems, you may need to make the binary executable:

chmod +x ~/.ovie/bin/ovie

SSL/TLS errors during download

Update your system's CA certificates or use the offline installation method.

Build failures from source

Ensure you have all prerequisites installed and try:

make clean
make build

Uninstallation

To remove Ovie from your system:

Quick Install Method

curl -sSL https://install.ovie-lang.org/uninstall.sh | sh

Manual Removal

# Remove binaries
rm -rf ~/.ovie

# Remove configuration
rm -rf ~/.config/ovie

# Remove from PATH (edit your shell profile)
# Remove the line: export PATH="$HOME/.ovie/bin:$PATH"

Next Steps

🚀 Ready to Code!

Now that Ovie is installed, here's what to do next:

Getting Started Guide - Write your first program
Language Guide - Learn Ovie syntax
Examples - Explore code examples
CLI Reference - Master the command-line tools

Need help? Visit our Community Discussions

Self-hosted since January 30, 2026 🎉