zig-ppa

Unofficial APT repository for the Zig programming language on Ubuntu.
Install and update Zig like any other system package — no manual downloads, no PATH hacks.

---

Quick install

# 1. Add the GPG key
curl -fsSL https://javanile.org/zig-ppa/ubuntu/key.gpg \
  | gpg --dearmor \
  | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/zig-ppa.gpg > /dev/null

# 2. Add the repository (replace "focal" with your Ubuntu codename)
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/zig-ppa.gpg] https://javanile.org/zig-ppa/ubuntu focal main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/zig-ppa.list

# 3. Install Zig
sudo apt update
sudo apt install zig

Your Ubuntu codename? Run lsb_release -cs to find out.

Install a specific version

sudo apt install zig=0.13.0-1

Verify the installation

zig version

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Supported platforms

Ubuntu release	Codename	amd64	arm64
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS	noble	yes	yes
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS	jammy	yes	yes
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS	focal	yes	yes

---

How it works

ziglang.org/download/          GitHub Actions (build.yml)
       │                               │
       │  official tarball             │  build-deb.sh
       └──────────────────────────────►│
                                       │  dpkg-buildpackage
                                       │
                                       ▼
                              ubuntu/pool/main/z/zig/
                              ubuntu/dists/<codename>/
                                       │
                                       │  ubuntu-packages.sh
                                       │  (Packages + Release + GPG sign)
                                       │
                                       ▼
                         https://javanile.org/zig-ppa/ubuntu/

1. Build — scripts/build-deb.sh <version> downloads the official upstream tarball, verifies its SHA256 against ziglang.org/download/index.json, and builds a .deb with dpkg-buildpackage.
2. Publish — scripts/ubuntu-packages.sh regenerates Packages, Release, InRelease, and Release.gpg for each supported Ubuntu release and places them under ubuntu/dists/.
3. Serve — the ubuntu/ directory is served as a static site via GitHub Pages at https://javanile.org/zig-ppa/ubuntu/.

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Repository layout

debian/          Debian packaging templates (control, rules, zig.install …)
scripts/
  build-deb.sh       Build a .deb for a given Zig version
  ubuntu-packages.sh Regenerate APT index files and GPG signatures
  ubuntu-gpg-key.sh  Generate / renew the repository signing key
tests/ubuntu/
  Dockerfile         Docker-based end-to-end install test
  test-local.sh      Run the full install test on this machine
ubuntu/
  key.gpg            Repository public key (add this to your keyring)
  sources.list       Example sources.list for users
  pool/main/z/zig/   .deb packages
  dists/<codename>/  APT index files (generated)
.github/workflows/
  ubuntu.yml         Matrix CI: Zig version × Ubuntu codename

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Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. To add a new Zig version:

1. Run ./scripts/build-deb.sh <new-version> locally.
2. Run ./scripts/ubuntu-packages.sh to regenerate the index.
3. Add the new version pairs to the matrix in .github/workflows/ubuntu.yml.
4. Open a PR — CI will validate the install on all supported distros.

To test locally before opening a PR:

sudo bash tests/ubuntu/test-local.sh <version>

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Maintainer

Francesco Bianco — bianco@javanile.org
Original packaging by Arto Bendiken.

Zig is developed by the Zig Software Foundation.
This repository is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Zig project.