Clojure is packaged as a library (Java ARchive), meaning any version of Clojure can easily be used with a project.
The Clojure CLI will download the Clojure library and provide essential tools for Clojure development.
Install Clojure CLI
Practically recommends setting XDG_CONFIG_HOME to the .config directory, to avoid creating another dot directory in the root of the user account. Add the following to ~/.bashrc for the bash shell or ~/.zshenv for Zsh.
export XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$HOME/.config"Use the Linux script installer from Clojure.org - Getting Started
The instructions should be as follows, possibly with a newer version
curl -O https://download.clojure.org/install/linux-install-1.10.3.1087.sh
chmod +x linux-install-1.10.3.1087.sh
sudo ./linux-install-1.10.3.1087.shThe installation creates /usr/local/bin/clojure, /usr/local/bin/clj wrapper and /usr/local/lib/clojure directory.
Practically recommends setting XDG_CONFIG_HOME to the .config directory, to avoid creating another dot directory in the root of the user account. Add the following to ~/.bashrc for the bash shell or ~/.zshenv for Zsh.
export XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$HOME/.config"Use the Homebrew command with the clojure/tools tap, as defined in the Clojure.org Getting started guide
brew install clojure/tools/clojureUse Homebrew to update an install of Clojure CLI to the latest release
brew upgrade clojure/tools/clojureFor Windows 10 use Windows Subsystem for Linux and Windows Terminal are recommended if you have administrative privileges and are comfortable using a Unix system on the command line.
Alternatively install scoop.sh, a command line installer for windows. Powershell 5 or greater is required. Follow the scoop-clojure getting started guide, summarized here:
Open "Windows PowerShell" and enter the following commands to configure the shell:
iwr -useb get.scoop.sh | iex
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser -ForceThen in the same PowerShell window, install the Clojure related tools using the following commands:
scoop bucket add extras
scoop bucket add java
scoop bucket add scoop-clojure https://github.com/littleli/scoop-clojure
scoop install git 7zip pshazz adoptopenjdk-lts-hotspot clojure leiningen clj-kondo vscode coreutils windows-terminalCheck CLI version
clojure -Sdescribe confirms Clojure CLI is installed and will show the version of the tool. Use the latest version of Clojure CLI tools, or at least version 1.10.1.697.
clojure -Sdescribe
The output of the command includes the version of Clojure in the :version key
{:version "1.10.3.1087"
:config-files ["/usr/local/lib/clojure/deps.edn" "/home/practicalli/.clojure/deps.edn" ]
:config-user "/home/practicalli/.config/clojure/deps.edn"
:config-project "deps.edn"
:install-dir "/usr/local/lib/clojure"
:config-dir "/home/practicalli/.clojure"
:cache-dir "/home/practicalli/.clojure/.cpcache"
:force false
:repro false
:main-aliases ""
:repl-aliases ""}
clojure -Sversionwill also show the version of Clojure CLI being used, before running a REPL or other Clojure code specified.
User Configuration files
When Clojure CLI is first run, a configuration directory is created containing a basic deps.edn file. The configuration in this deps.edn file can be used with any Clojure CLI projects by the current user.
The default location is $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/clojure (if XDG_CONFIG_HOME has a value) or $HOME/.clojure. CLJ_CONFIG can be used to over-ride the location the path.
Check the location of your Clojure configuration directory by running clojure -Sdescribe and looking at the :config-user value.
{,,,
:config-user "/home/practicalli/.config/clojure/deps.edn"
,,,}
Optional: rlwrap readline
Install the rlwrap binary to support the clj wrapper, which launches a Clojure REPL with command history.
rlwrap is available with most Linux systems. Look for install instructions by searching for rlwrap in a web browser.
rebel readline provides even more features in the command line REPL and does not require rlwrap.