Install Netsuke

Netsuke requires Ninja on PATH. A source build also requires the dated Rust nightly toolchain pinned in rust-toolchain.toml because Netsuke builds with the Polonius borrow checker, which nightly enables by default.

Inside a checkout, rustup automatically selects the pinned toolchain from rust-toolchain.toml; no command-line argument is required.

Netsuke v0.1.0-beta3 is available from crates.io. Where cargo binstall is available, prefer it: it fetches a prebuilt release binary and avoids the toolchain requirement below.

cargo binstall netsuke-build

Building from the registry instead runs outside a repository checkout, so the pinned toolchain is not picked up automatically; select it explicitly:

rustup toolchain install nightly-2026-08-23
cargo +nightly-2026-08-23 install netsuke-build

Pre-built installers are available from the v0.1.0-beta3 GitHub release:

Download the package for the host architecture, then install it with the platform tool. Replace PACKAGE with the downloaded filename:

• Debian or Ubuntu: sudo apt install ./PACKAGE.deb
• Fedora, Rocky Linux, or another RPM-based distribution: sudo dnf install ./PACKAGE.rpm
• macOS: sudo installer -pkg ./PACKAGE.pkg -target /
• Windows: msiexec.exe /i PACKAGE.msi

The Linux packages install the binary under /usr/bin, add the netsuke.1 manual page and declare ninja-build as a dependency. The macOS packages install the binary under /usr/local/bin, along with the manual page and licence. Ninja must be installed separately when using the macOS or Windows installer. The Windows MSI installs to C:\Program Files\netsuke and does not update PATH.

The MSI installer supports pre-release SemVer versions such as 0.1.0-beta3: the pre-release suffix cannot be represented in an MSI product version, so the installer carries the numeric release triple (0.1.0) while the full version remains in the package and release names. Because successive pre-releases share that numeric version, installing a later pre-release MSI replaces the existing installation for that version series rather than installing alongside it.

SHA-256 checksum files accompany standalone binaries and staged help, completion, and licence files. Installer packages do not have checksum sidecars in v0.1.0-beta3. Windows PowerShell help files are published beside each MSI as sidecar artefacts rather than embedded in the installer.

Each standalone release archive also contains generated shell completion sidecars under completions/<shell>/ for Bash, Elvish, Fish, PowerShell, and Zsh. These files are portable and separate from the executable and installer payloads. To use one, extract the matching archive and copy the file for the chosen shell into that shell's normal completion directory, or load it through the shell's documented completion mechanism. The package installation commands above do not install completion files; completion directory names and activation steps vary by shell and platform.

Install the current source checkout with Cargo. The clone supplies the pinned nightly toolchain, so it is not given here — unlike the registry install above, which runs outside a checkout:

git clone https://github.com/leynos/netsuke.git
cd netsuke
cargo install --path .

The MSI does not add its installation directory to PATH. Add it to the current user's persistent PATH, update the current PowerShell session, then verify that the command resolves:

$netsukeDirectory = Join-Path $env:ProgramFiles 'netsuke'
$userPath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('Path', 'User')
$userEntries = @($userPath -split ';' | Where-Object { $_ })
if ($userEntries -notcontains $netsukeDirectory) {
    $newUserPath = (($userEntries + $netsukeDirectory) -join ';')
    [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('Path', $newUserPath, 'User')
}
if (($env:Path -split ';') -notcontains $netsukeDirectory) {
    $env:Path = "$env:Path;$netsukeDirectory"
}
netsuke --version

The release publishes PowerShell help separately for each Windows architecture. The following script downloads the matching module script, manifest, Microsoft Assistance Markup Language (MAML) help, and about-help file. It then restores the versioned module layout under the current user's standard PowerShell module directory and imports the module. Set $architecture to match the downloaded MSI:

$architecture = 'amd64' # Use 'arm64' for the Arm64 MSI.
$releaseUri = 'https://api.github.com/repos/leynos/netsuke/releases/tags/v0.1.0-beta3'
$release = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $releaseUri

$documents = [Environment]::GetFolderPath('MyDocuments')
$editionDirectory = if ($PSVersionTable.PSEdition -eq 'Desktop') {
    'WindowsPowerShell'
} else {
    'PowerShell'
}
$moduleRoot = Join-Path $documents "$editionDirectory\Modules"
$moduleDirectory = Join-Path $moduleRoot 'Netsuke\0.1.0-beta3'
$helpDirectory = Join-Path $moduleDirectory 'en-US'
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $helpDirectory -Force | Out-Null

$patterns = @{
    'Netsuke.psm1' = '*Netsuke.psm1'
    'Netsuke.psd1' = '*Netsuke.psd1'
    'Netsuke-help.xml' = '*en-US-Netsuke-help.xml'
    'about_Netsuke.help.txt' = '*en-US-about_Netsuke.help.txt'
}
$localizedFiles = @('Netsuke-help.xml', 'about_Netsuke.help.txt')
foreach ($fileName in $patterns.Keys) {
    $pattern = "*windows-$architecture*$($patterns[$fileName])"
    $asset = $release.assets | Where-Object { $_.name -like $pattern } | Select-Object -First 1
    if ($null -eq $asset) {
        throw "Release asset not found: $pattern"
    }
    $destinationDirectory = if ($localizedFiles -contains $fileName) {
        $helpDirectory
    } else {
        $moduleDirectory
    }
    $destination = Join-Path $destinationDirectory $fileName
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $asset.browser_download_url -OutFile $destination -UseBasicParsing
}

Import-Module (Join-Path $moduleDirectory 'Netsuke.psd1') -Force

The versioned directory is discoverable in later PowerShell sessions. After the import, inspect the external help with:

Get-Help Netsuke -Full