Installation

Install TinyCC on Linux, BSD, macOS, or Windows

Installation

TinyCC is designed to be easy to build and install on all major platforms. Follow the instructions for your operating system below.

Linux and macOS

1. Download the source

   Clone the TinyCC repository or download the latest release tarball:

   git clone git://repo.or.cz/tinycc.git
   cd tinycc
   
2. Configure the build

   Run the configure script to detect your system and set up the build:

   ./configure
   

   Run ./configure --help to see available configuration options, such as custom installation paths or cross-compilation settings.

   Common configuration options:

   # Install to a custom location
   ./configure --prefix=/opt/tcc
   
   # Enable cross-compilation support
   ./configure --enable-cross
   
   # Disable documentation generation
   ./configure --disable-doc
   
3. Build TinyCC

   Compile the TCC binary:

   make
   

   This typically takes just a few seconds on modern hardware.

4. Run tests (optional)

   Verify that TCC works correctly on your system:

   make test
   

   The test suite runs various C programs through TCC to ensure correctness.

5. Install TinyCC

   Install TCC to your system (requires root/sudo):

   make install
   

   By default, TCC installs to /usr/local/bin. The installation includes:

   • tcc binary in /usr/local/bin
   • TCC libraries in /usr/local/lib/tcc
   • Include files in /usr/local/lib/tcc/include
6. Verify installation

   Check that TCC is installed and working:

   tcc -v
   

   This should display the TCC version information.

The makeinfo tool must be installed to compile the documentation. If you don’t need the documentation, you can skip this requirement or disable it with ./configure --disable-doc.

BSD systems

On BSD variants (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD), the installation process is nearly identical to Linux, with one important difference:

Use gmake (GNU Make) instead of make on BSD systems.

1. Install GNU Make

   If gmake is not already installed:

   FreeBSD

   pkg install gmake
   

   OpenBSD

   pkg_add gmake
   

   NetBSD

   pkgin install gmake
   
2. Build and install

   Follow the same steps as Linux, but use gmake instead of make:

   ./configure
   gmake
   gmake test
   gmake install
   

Windows

For Windows installation, TinyCC provides native Win32 support.

1. Download Windows binary

   The easiest way to get TCC on Windows is to download a pre-built binary from the official release page.

   Alternatively, you can build from source using MinGW or MSYS2.

2. Extract the archive

   Extract the TCC archive to a directory, such as C:\tcc.

3. Add to PATH

   Add the TCC directory to your system PATH environment variable to run tcc from anywhere.

4. Verify installation

   Open Command Prompt and verify TCC is working:

   tcc -v
   

For detailed Windows-specific information, including building from source on Windows, refer to tcc-win32.txt in the TCC source distribution.

Configuration options

The ./configure script accepts several options to customize your installation:

Option	Description
--prefix=DIR	Install TCC to directory DIR (default: /usr/local)
--bindir=DIR	Install binaries to DIR (default: PREFIX/bin)
--libdir=DIR	Install libraries to DIR (default: PREFIX/lib)
--includedir=DIR	Install includes to DIR (default: PREFIX/include)
--enable-cross	Build cross-compilers for all supported architectures
--disable-static	Don’t build static library
--config-predefs=yes	Force use of system predefined macros
--cpu=x86_64	Explicitly set target CPU architecture

For cross-compilation support (building code for different architectures), use --enable-cross during configuration. This allows you to compile ARM code on x86_64, for example.

System requirements

Build dependencies

• C compiler (GCC, Clang, or another C compiler to bootstrap TCC)
• GNU Make (or gmake on BSD)
• Standard development tools (ar, sed, etc.)
• Optional: makeinfo for building documentation

Runtime dependencies

TCC has minimal runtime dependencies:

• Standard C library (glibc, musl, or system libc)
• Dynamic linker (for shared library support)

Once built, TCC itself is self-contained and doesn’t require GCC or any other compiler to be installed for using it.

Troubleshooting

configure: command not found

Make sure you’ve downloaded the source code and are in the correct directory. The configure script should be in the root of the TCC source tree.

make: command not found on BSD

Use gmake instead of make on BSD systems. Install GNU Make if it’s not already available.

Permission denied during make install

You need root privileges to install to system directories. Use sudo make install or configure with a different --prefix that you have write access to.

Test failures

Some tests may fail on certain systems or configurations. If only a few tests fail and TCC works for basic programs, this is usually acceptable for personal use. Check the TCC mailing list or issue tracker for known issues.

Next steps

Quick start guide

Now that TCC is installed, try compiling your first program