Get Fuchsia source code

This guide provides instructions for the following tasks:

Download the Fuchsia source code.
Set up environment variables.

Prerequisites

The Fuchsia project requires python, curl, unzip, and git to be up-to-date:

For Linux, install or update the following packages:
```
sudo apt-get install build-essential curl git python unzip
```
Note: Fuchsia recommends the version of Git to be 2.24 or higher.
For macOS, install the Xcode command line tool:
```
xcode-select --install
```

Download Fuchsia source

Fuchsia's bootstrap script creates a fuchsia directory and downloads the content of the Fuchsia source repository to this new directory.

To download the Fuchsia source, do the following:

Go to the directory where you want to create your fuchsia directory, for example:
```
cd ~
```
Note: All examples and instructions in fuchsia.dev use ~/fuchsia as the root directory of the Fuchsia project.

Run the bootstrap script:

curl -s "https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/fuchsia/+/master/scripts/bootstrap?format=TEXT" | base64 --decode | bash

Downloading may take up to 60 minutes.

Authentication error

If you see the Invalid authentication credentials error during the bootstrap process, your ~/.gitcookies file may contain cookies from some repositories in googlesource.com that the bootstrap script wants to check out anonymously.

To resolve this error, do one of the following:

Follow the onscreen directions to get passwords for the specified repositories.
Delete the offending cookies from the .gitcookies file.

Set up environment variables

Setting up Fuchsia environment variables requires the following:

Add the .jiri_root/bin directory to your PATH.
Source the scripts/fx-env.sh file.

The .jiri_root/bin directory in the Fuchsia source contains the jiri{:.external} and fx tools, which are essential to Fuchsia workflows. Fuchsia uses the jiri tool to manage multiple repositories in the Fuchsia project. The fx tool helps configure, build, run, and debug Fuchsia. The Fuchsia toolchain requires jiri to be available in your PATH.

Additionally, sourcing the fx-env.sh script enables useful shell functions in your terminal. For instance, it creates a FUCHSIA_DIR environment variable and provides the fd command for navigating directories with auto-completion. See comments in fx-env.sh for details.

Update your shell script

Update your shell script to automatically set up Fuchsia environment variables in your terminal.

The following steps use a bash terminal as an example:

Use a text editor to open your ~/.bashrc file:
```
vim ~/.bashrc
```
Add the following lines your ~/.bashrc file and save the file:
Note: If your Fuchsia source code is not located in the ~/fuchsia directory, replace ~/fuchsia with your Fuchsia directory.
```
export PATH=~/fuchsia/.jiri_root/bin:$PATH
source ~/fuchsia/scripts/fx-env.sh
```
Update your environment variables:
```
source ~/.bashrc
```
You can now run jiri and fx in any directory.

Run the following commands in any directory and confirm that these commands print a usage guide for the tool:

jiri help

fx help

Work on Fuchsia without updating your PATH

The following sections provide alternative approaches to the Update your shell script section.

Copy the tool to your binary directory

If you don't wish to update your environment variables, but you want jiri to work in any directory, copy the jiri tool to your ~/bin directory, for example:

Note: If your Fuchsia source code is not located in the ~/fuchsia directory, replace ~/fuchsia with your Fuchsia directory.

cp ~/fuchsia/.jiri_root/bin/jiri ~/bin

However, you must have write access to the ~/bin directory without sudo. If you don't, jiri cannot keep itself up-to-date.

Add a symlink to your binary directory

Similarly, if you want to use the fx tool without updating your environment variables, provide the fx tool's symlink in your ~/bin directory, for example: