Build Linux

Last Updated on 2026-04-16

Please read the general build guide for information on dependencies required for all platforms. Only Linux specific instructions are found in this file.

~~You can use the Overte Builder to build on Linux more easily. Alternatively, you can follow the manual steps below.~~ (Currently outdated.)

This documentation assumes that you are running our current target distribution, which is currently Ubuntu 22.04. The target distribution is usually the latest Ubuntu LTS still receiving standard support, though we may upgrade a little sooner if we require certain newer packages. Ubuntu version numbers are date codes and standard support is 5 years, meaning that Ubuntu 22.04 leaves standard support after around 2027-04.

Install build tools:

  • First update the package cache and your system:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

  • Install git and g++

sudo apt install git g++

  • Install CMake We require a newer CMake version than 3.22.1, which is shipped in Ubuntu 22.04, so we install CMake packages provided by upstream here: https://apt.kitware.com/

  • Install Conan Get the Conan "Ubuntu / Debian installer" from https://conan.io/downloads and install it using:

sudo apt install ./conan-*.deb

Verify Conan was installed by running conan --version.

Install build dependencies:

Most dependencies will be automatically installed by Conan. This section only lists dependencies which might not be handled by Conan.

  • OpenGL:

sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dev -y

Verify OpenGL:

  • First install mesa-utils with the command sudo apt install mesa-utils -y.

  • Then run glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version".

Extra dependencies to compile Interface on a server

  • Install the following:

sudo apt install libpulse0 libnss3 libnspr4 libfontconfig1 libxcursor1 libxcomposite1 libxtst6 libxslt1.1

  • Misc dependencies:

sudo apt install libasound2 libxmu-dev libxi-dev freeglut3-dev libasound2-dev libjack0 libjack-dev libxrandr-dev libudev-dev libssl-dev zlib1g-dev

  • Install Python 3 and required packages:

sudo apt install python python3 python3-distro

  • Install Node.js as it is required to build the jsdoc documentation:

sudo apt install nodejs

Get code and checkout the branch you need

Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/overte-org/overte.git

Then checkout the master branch with:

git checkout master

If you need a different branch, you can get a list of all tags with:

git fetch --tags
git tag

Prepare conan

The next step is setting up conan

First, create a conan profile

conan profile detect --force

Next, add the overte remote to conan

conan remote add overte https://artifactory.overte.org/artifactory/api/conan/overte -f

Let conan automatically install the required system packages

echo "tools.system.package_manager:mode = install" >> ~/.conan2/global.conf
echo "tools.system.package_manager:sudo = True" >> ~/.conan2/global.conf

If you don't do this, Conan will still complain if it notices system packages being missing, so you can manually install them.

Compiling

Install the dependencies with conan

cd overte
conan install . -s build_type=Release -b missing -pr:b=tools/conan-profiles/linux -of build -c tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator="Ninja Multi-Config"

If you want to build Debug or RelWithDebInfo versions, change the build_type to Debug or RelWithDebInfo and run the command again. E.g.:

conan install . -s build_type=Debug -b missing -pr:b=tools/conan-profiles/linux -of build -c tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator="Ninja Multi-Config"

Prepare ninja files:

cmake --preset conan-default

Server

To compile the Domain server:

cmake --build --preset conan-release --target domain-server assignment-client

Note: For a server, it is not necessary to compile the Interface.

Interface

To compile the Interface client:

cmake --build --preset conan-release --target interface

Running the software

Domain server

Running Domain server:

./domain-server/domain-server

Assignment clients

Running assignment client:

./assignment-client/assignment-client -n 6

Interface

Running Interface:

./interface/interface

Go to "localhost" in the running Interface to visit your newly launched Domain server.

Unit Testing

Overte contains some unit tests based on the Qt Test API. Using them for developing changes and improvements is highly encouraged. They're also useful when testing thread safety and memory safety is needed, as the interface binary is far too big to run under Valgrind.

To build the tests, first run CMake with the -DOVERTE_BUILD_TESTS=ON argument, eg:

cmake --preset conan-debug -DOVERTE_BUILD_TESTS=ON

The tests are still not built by default, the test target has to be built with:

make all-tests

The tests will be generated under the tests/ directory, grouped by category. To run all of them, use the test target. This produces a test summary of pass/fail results.

make test

To run just one, go into the corresponding directory and run the binary. This will produce a more detailed output, which can be useful for debugging.

cd tests/audio
./audio-CodecTests

For developing new tests, see the Qt Test documentation. Tests need to be in tests/$category/${name}Tests.h and tests/$category/${name}Tests.cpp (the Tests.cpp naming is important).