Installation

Get Nebula running on your system in minutes.

Prerequisites

  • Rust (1.70+): Required for building from source
  • Git: For cloning the repository
  • Cargo: Rust's package manager (comes with Rust)

Installing Rust

If you don't have Rust installed:

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

# Windows
# Download and run: https://rustup.rs/

Building from Source

Clone & Build

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Sxf0z/Nebula.git
cd Nebula

# Build release version (optimized)
cargo build --release

# The binary will be at:
# ./target/release/nebula (Linux/macOS)
# ./target/release/nebula.exe (Windows)

Verify Installation

./target/release/nebula --help

You should see:

Nebula - High Performance Scripting Language

USAGE:
    nebula [OPTIONS] [FILE]

OPTIONS:
    --vm       Use bytecode VM (faster)
    --help     Show this message

Add to PATH (Optional)

To run nebula from anywhere:

Linux/macOS

# Add to your shell profile (.bashrc, .zshrc, etc.)
export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/Nebula/target/release"

Windows (PowerShell)

# Add to user PATH
$env:PATH += ";C:\path\to\Nebula\target\release"

VS Code Extension

For syntax highlighting and IntelliSense:

  1. Navigate to nebula-vscode/ directory
  2. Install dependencies: 
    cd nebula-vscode
npm install
  3. Press F5 to launch in debug mode
  4. Or package for installation: 
    npm run package

Your First Program

Create a file hello.na:

fn main() do
    log("Hello, Nebula!")
    
    perm name = "World"
    log("Welcome,", name)
end

Run it:

nebula hello.na        # Interpreter mode
nebula --vm hello.na   # VM mode (faster)

Troubleshooting

Build Errors

Error: cargo not found

Error: linker not found

  • Linux: sudo apt install build-essential
  • macOS: xcode-select --install

Runtime Issues

Error: Permission denied

chmod +x ./target/release/nebula

What's Next?