Bear has been around for a while, and packages are available in many distributions. For an easy installation, consult your distribution's package manager. These packages are well-tested and should be the first choice for installation.

Common package manager commands:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install bear

# Fedora
sudo dnf install bear

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S bear

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install bear

# FreeBSD
pkg install bear

For a full list of available packages, see the Repology page.

Install from source

If the latest version is not available in your distribution, install Bear from source. Follow the steps below.

Prerequisites

Bear is now implemented in Rust, so the Rust toolchain is required.

Rust toolchain (1.85 or later): Bear uses the Rust 2024 edition, which requires Rust 1.85+. Install Rust using rustup:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Ensure that cargo and rustc are available in your PATH:

rustc --version   # must be >= 1.85
cargo --version

C compiler: A C compiler is required to build the preload library (intercept-preload). The cc crate will typically find one automatically; ensure gcc or clang is installed. If your are building for Linux/ELF platform, ensure lld is installed, as ld lacks an essetial feature.

Simple installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/rizsotto/Bear.git
   cd Bear
   

2. Build:

   cargo build --release
   

3. (Optional) Generate shell completions:

   target/release/generate-completions target/release/completions
   

4. Install:

   ./scripts/install.sh
   

   If the completions directory exists under the build artifacts, the install script will automatically install completions for bash, zsh, fish, and elvish to standard locations.

5. Verify the installation:

   bear --version
   bear -- true   # quick smoke test - should produce an empty compile_commands.json
   

Uninstall

The install script does not generate an uninstall script. To remove Bear, delete the installed files manually. The installation layout is listed at the end of this document.

Custom installation

By default, Bear is installed to /usr/local (when run as root) or $HOME/.local (otherwise). You can override the installation prefix with PREFIX:

sudo PREFIX=/usr ./scripts/install.sh

PREFIX is the final install location (e.g., /usr, /usr/local, $HOME/.local). Binaries go into $PREFIX/bin/, libraries into $PREFIX/libexec/bear/, and so on.

The preload library directory name defaults to lib. On systems where a different directory is needed, set INTERCEPT_LIBDIR at both build and install time:

# Build with the correct library directory compiled in
INTERCEPT_LIBDIR=lib64 cargo build --release

# Install with the same value so the file is placed where bear-driver expects it
INTERCEPT_LIBDIR=lib64 ./scripts/install.sh

On glibc-based Linux, the special value $LIB can be used - the dynamic linker expands it at runtime (see man ld.so). On other platforms (macOS, musl, FreeBSD), use a concrete directory name.

Shell completions with a user-local install

When Bear is installed to a system prefix like /usr or /usr/local, shells typically find completions automatically. For a user-local install ($HOME/.local), you need to tell your shell where to look:

Bash - add to ~/.bashrc:

source "$HOME/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/bear"

Zsh - add to ~/.zshrc (before compinit):

fpath=("$HOME/.local/share/zsh/site-functions" $fpath)

Fish - add to ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

set -p fish_complete_path $HOME/.local/share/fish/vendor_completions.d

How to package

If you are a package maintainer for a distribution:

• Build, generate completions, and install with DESTDIR, PREFIX, and INTERCEPT_LIBDIR:

  INTERCEPT_LIBDIR=lib64 cargo build --release
  target/release/generate-completions target/release/completions
  DESTDIR=$pkgdir PREFIX=/usr INTERCEPT_LIBDIR=lib64 ./scripts/install.sh
  

  DESTDIR is the staging root prepended to all install paths. PREFIX is the final on-system prefix (e.g. /usr). Do not combine them into PREFIX - the entry script embeds PREFIX as a literal runtime path, so it must match the installed system, not the build chroot.

• The preload library (libexec.so) is only built on Unix. Windows builds only produce bear-driver and bear-wrapper. Consult intercept-preload/build.rs for details.

• bear-driver locates its siblings using relative paths: ./bear-wrapper and ../$INTERCEPT_LIBDIR/libexec.so. The bear entry script in $PREFIX/bin/ is the only artifact that uses an absolute path.

• The expected installation layout:

  $PREFIX/
  ├── bin/
  │   └── bear                              (shell script)
  ├── libexec/
  │   └── bear/
  │       ├── bin/
  │       │   ├── bear-driver
  │       │   └── bear-wrapper
  │       └── $INTERCEPT_LIBDIR/
  │           └── libexec.so
  └── share/
      ├── bash-completion/
      │   └── completions/
      │       └── bear                      (optional)
      ├── zsh/
      │   └── site-functions/
      │       └── _bear                     (optional)
      ├── fish/
      │   └── vendor_completions.d/
      │       └── bear.fish                 (optional)
      ├── elvish/
      │   └── lib/
      │       └── bear.elv                  (optional)
      ├── doc/
      │   └── bear/
      │       ├── README.md
      │       └── COPYING
      └── man/
          └── man1/
              └── bear.1