Crow provides an archive containing the framework and CMake files, just copy the `include` folder to `/usr/local/include` and `lib` folder to `/usr/local/lib`.<br><br>
You can also download the `crow_all.h` file and simply include that into your project.
<br><br>
## Installing from source
### Using CMake
1. Download Crow's source code (Either through github's UI or by using<br>`git clone https://github.com/CrowCpp/Crow.git`).
2. Run `mkdir build` inside of crow's source directory.
3. Navigate to the new "build" directory and run the following:<br>
You can ignore `-DCROW_BUILD_EXAMPLES=OFF -DCROW_BUILD_TESTS=OFF` if you want to build the Examples and Unit Tests.
<br>
### Manually
Crow can be installed manually on your Linux computer.
#### Multiple header files
=== "Project Only"
Copy Crow's `include` directory to your project's `include` directory.
=== "System wide"
Copy Crow's `include` directory to the `/usr/local/include` directory.
#### Single header (crow_all.h)
!!!warning
`crow_all.h` is recommended only for small, possibly single source file projects, and ideally should not be installed on your system.
navigate to the `scripts` directory and run `./merge_all.py ../include crow_all.h`. This will generate a `crow_all.h` file that you can use in your projects.
!!!note
You can also include or exclude middlewares from your `crow_all.h` by using `-i` or `-e` followed by the middleware header file names separated by a comma (e.g. `merge_all.py ../include crow_all.h -e cookie_parser` to exclude the cookie parser middleware).
# Compiling your project
## Using CMake
In order to get your CMake project to work with Crow, all you need are the following lines in your CMakeLists.txt:
```
find_package(Crow)
target_link_libraries(your_project PUBLIC Crow::Crow)
```
From there CMake should handle compiling and linking your project.
## Directly using a compiler
All you need to do is run the following command:
```
g++ main.cpp -lpthread
```
You can use arguments like `-DCROW_ENABLE_DEBUG`, `-DCROW_ENABLE_COMPRESSION -lz` for HTTP Compression, or `-DCROW_ENABLE_SSL -lssl` for HTTPS support, or even replace g++ with clang++.
!!!warning
If you're using a version of boost prior to 1.69, you'll need to add the argument `-lboost_system` in order for you Crow application to compile correctly.
