Installing Erlang and zx/zomp

Last updated: September 23, 2025 (PRH).

Linux

Ubuntu

Source: Building Erlang 26.2.5 on Ubuntu 24.04

Adapt this to your Linux distribution.

Install necessary build tools

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install \
    gcc curl g++ dpkg-dev build-essential automake autoconf \
    libncurses-dev libssl-dev flex xsltproc libwxgtk3.2-dev \
    wget vim git

Put Kerl somewhere in your $PATH. This is a tool to build Erlang releases.

wget -O ~/bin/kerl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kerl/kerl/master/kerl
chmod u+x ~/bin/kerl

Build Erlang from source using Kerl

kerl update releases
## use the most recent one that looks stable
## you do need to type the number twice, that's not a typo
kerl build 28.1 28.1
kerl install 28.1 ~/.erts/28.1

Put Erlang in your $PATH

Update .bashrc or .zshrc or whatever with the following line:
```
. $HOME/.erts/28.1/activate
```

Install zx

wget -q https://zxq9.com/projects/zomp/get_zx && bash get_zx

Test zx works

zx installs itself to ~/bin, so make sure that's in your $PATH.
```
zx run erltris
```