Installing
FreeBASIC installation.
Windows
Run the installer executable, and follow its instructions. FreeBASIC uses the NSIS installer which has a strong compression. The download size is ca 6 MB, after extraction the full total size is ca 50 MB.
FreeBASIC will be installed in `C:\FreeBASIC`, or if you chose a different installation directory, in your chosen directory. Start Menu shortcuts to the Uninstaller and website will be installed as well.
Linux
Unpack the archive to a temporary folder and navigate to the root FreeBASIC installation directory. For example, if the FreeBASIC package you downloaded was called `FreeBASIC-vX.XX.Xb-linux.tar.gz` and was in your home directory, type,
`cd`
(change to your home directory)
`mkdir -p tmp && cd tmp`
(attempt to create a temporary directory and change to it)
`tar -xzf ../FreeBASIC-vX.XX.Xb-linux.tar.gz`
(unpack the archive)
`cd FreeBASIC`
(change to the root installation directory)
Run the installation script `install.sh` with the "-i" switch, optionally specifying the installation directory. For example, to install FreeBASIC into the default directory type,
`sudo ./install.sh -i`
(the default installation)
Run the installation script with no arguments for more info on command-line options. `install.sh` will install FreeBASIC `/usr/local` by default.
To uninstall FreeBASIC, you can run "install.sh -u"
Linux (standalone)
Unpack the archive to a temporary folder and navigate to the root FreeBASIC installation directory. For example, if the FreeBASIC package you downloaded was called `FreeBASIC-vX.XX.Xb-linux-standalone.tar.gz` and was in your home directory, type,
`cd`
(change to your home directory)
`mkdir -p tmp && cd tmp`
(attempt to create a temporary directory and change to it)
`tar -xzf ../FreeBASIC-vX.XX.Xb-linux-standalone.tar.gz`
(unpack the archive)
`cd FreeBASIC`
(change to the root installation directory)
Run the installation script `install-standalone.sh` with the "-i" switch, optionally specifying the installation directory. For example, to install FreeBASIC into the default directory type,
`sudo ./install-standalone.sh -i`
(the default installation)
Run the installation script with no arguments for more info on command-line options. `install-standalone.sh` will install FreeBASIC to `/usr/share/freebasic` by default and a symlink to the compiler binary will be created at `/usr/bin/fbc` if run with root permission.
To uninstall FreeBASIC, you can run "install-standalone.sh -u"
DOS

- Find a place for FreeBASIC with at least 13 MiB free space.
- Unpack the ZIP archive, making sure that the directory structure as used inside the archive is preserved ("PKUNZIP -d" for example).
- The top-level directory is named FreeBASIC (will be truncated to "FREEBASI" in DOS without full LFN support), so you might want to rename it then to a convenient DOS-compliant name not longer than 8 characters and containing no white-spaces, like "FB".
- All the important files used by the compiler (includes, libs) inside the archive do have DOS-compliant names, therefore DOSLFN is not required to use FreeBASIC, however, some examples and texts do have longer names and will be truncated when extracted without full LFN support.

(Note: you can install the DOS version "over" the Windows one or vice-versa, or "merge" those installations later, but rename the FBC.EXE file of the previous installation to FBCW.EXE , FBCD.EXE or such, or it will be overwritten by the new one. Other platform specific files are placed in subdirectories making sure that they won't conflict.)
See also

- Invoking the Compiler
- Compiler Command Line Options