Requirements

Docker path

The simplest way to run LandSandBoat is with the pre-built Docker image. You only need:

Docker Engine 24.0 or later (or Docker Desktop)
Docker Compose v2 (included with Docker Desktop)

No compiler or build toolchain is required.

Build-from-source path

Linux (Ubuntu)
Linux (Alpine)
Windows
macOS

The CI and official Docker image target Ubuntu 24.04 with GCC 14.Compiler

Tool	Minimum version
GCC	14 (`g++-14`)
Clang	20 (`clang-20`) — alternative to GCC

Build tools

Package	Notes
`cmake`	3.25 or later (required by `CMakeLists.txt`)
`ninja-build`	Recommended generator (`cmake -G Ninja`)
`make`	Alternative to Ninja
`ccache`	Optional, speeds up incremental builds

Runtime and development libraries

Package	Notes
`libmariadb-dev-compat`	MariaDB C connector
`libzmq3-dev`	ZeroMQ
`libluajit-5.1-dev`	LuaJIT
`libssl-dev`	OpenSSL
`zlib1g-dev`	zlib
`binutils-dev`	Required on Linux
`python3-dev`	Python 3 headers
`python3-venv`	Virtual environment for tools

Install all build dependencies on Ubuntu 24.04:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install --assume-yes --no-install-recommends \
    binutils-dev \
    ccache \
    cmake \
    g++-14 \
    libluajit-5.1-dev \
    libmariadb-dev-compat \
    libssl-dev \
    libzmq3-dev \
    make \
    ninja-build \
    python3-dev \
    python3-venv \
    zlib1g-dev

Set compiler alternatives (if needed):

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-14 100
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-14 100

Alpine images are available and significantly smaller, but use different library versions and are considered experimental.CompilerAlpine defaults to Clang 20 in the Dockerfile. GCC (g++) is also available.Install build dependencies on Alpine 3.22:

apk add \
    binutils-dev \
    ccache \
    cmake \
    g++ \
    linux-headers \
    luajit-dev \
    make \
    mariadb-dev \
    openssl-dev \
    python3-dev \
    samurai \
    zeromq-dev \
    zlib-dev

Windows builds use MSVC via Visual Studio 2022 or Build Tools 2022 (targeting the windows-2025 runner in CI).Requirements:

Tool	Notes
Visual Studio 2022 (or Build Tools)	With the Desktop development with C++ workload
CMake 3.25+	Bundled with VS, or install separately
Python 3	Required at configure time
MariaDB Connector/C	Install and add to `PATH`
ZeroMQ (libzmq)	Build from source or use vcpkg
LuaJIT	Build from source or use vcpkg
OpenSSL	Install and add to `PATH`
Ninja	Recommended (`cmake -G Ninja`)

Using vcpkg to manage Windows dependencies is strongly recommended. Pass -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=[vcpkg root]/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake to CMake.

Windows builds are tested in CI using windows-2025 runners with MSVC. MinGW is not tested or supported.

macOS builds use Apple Clang (tested on macos-26 runners in CI). LLVM Clang is also supported.Install dependencies via Homebrew:

brew install \
    mariadb \
    zeromq \
    luajit \
    ninja

For LLVM Clang:

brew install llvm@20 lld@20

Database

All installation paths require a running MariaDB instance. The LTS release is recommended.

Component	Requirement
MariaDB	LTS release (`mariadb:lts` Docker image, or system package)
Character set	`utf8mb4`
Collation	`utf8mb4_general_ci`

MariaDB must be started with:

--character-set-server=utf8mb4 --collation-server=utf8mb4_general_ci

Python (tools)

The database management tool (tools/dbtool.py) requires Python 3. Install tool dependencies with:

pip install -r tools/requirements.txt

Key Python packages: mariadb, gitpython, pyyaml, colorama, zmq.

Introduction

Installation

Database Setup

Docker path

Build-from-source path

Database

Python (tools)

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Introduction

Installation

Database Setup

​Docker path

​Build-from-source path

​Database

​Python (tools)

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Docker path

Build-from-source path

Database

Python (tools)