containing a snapshot of the <em>latest</em> version directly from 
Fossil's own fossil repository. Additionally, source archives of 
<em>released</em> versions of
fossil are available from the <a href="http://www.fossil-scm.org/download.html">downloads page</a>.
To obtain a development version of fossil, follow these steps:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Point your web browser to
<a href="http://www.fossil-scm.org/">
http://www.fossil-scm.org/</a>.</p></li>

<li><p>Click on the 
<a href="http://www.fossil-scm.org/fossil/timeline">Timeline</a> 
link at the top of the page.</p></li>

<li><p>Select a version of of Fossil you want to download.  The latest
version on the trunk branch is usually a good choice.  Click on its
link.</p></li>

<li><p>Finally, click on one of the
"Zip Archive" or "Tarball" links, according to your preference.
These link will build a ZIP archive or a gzip-compressed tarball of the 
complete source code and download it to your computer.
</ol>

<h2>Aside: Is it really safe to use an unreleased development version of
the Fossil source code?</h2>

Yes!  Any check-in on the 
[/timeline?t=trunk | trunk branch] of the Fossil
[http://fossil-scm.org/fossil/timeline | Fossil self-hosting repository]
will work fine.  (Dodgy code is always on a branch.)  In the unlikely
event that you pick a version with a serious bug, it still won't
clobber your files.  Fossil uses several
[./selfcheck.wiki | self-checks] prior to committing any
repository change that prevent loss-of-work due to bugs.

The Fossil [./selfhost.wiki | self-hosting repositories], especially
the one at [http://www.fossil-scm.org/fossil], usually run a version
of trunk that is less than a week or two old.  Look at the bottom
left-hand corner of this screen (to the right of "This page was
generated in...") to see exactly which version of Fossil is
rendering this page.  It is always safe to use whatever version
of the Fossil code you find running on the main Fossil website.

<h2>2.0 Compiling</h2>

<ol>

<li><p><i>Unix</i> → the configure-generated Makefile should work on
all Unix and Unix-like systems.  Simply type "<b>make</b>".

<li><p><i>Unix without running "configure"</i> → if you prefer to avoid running configure, you
can also use: <b>make -f Makefile.classic</b>.  You may want to make minor
edits to Makefile.classic to configure the build for your system.

<li><p><i>MinGW3.x (not 4.0)/MinGW-w64</i> → Use the mingw makefile:
"<b>make -f win/Makefile.mingw</b>". On a Windows box you will
need either Cygwin or Msys as build environment. On Cygwin, Linux
or Darwin you may want to make minor edits to win/Makefile.mingw
to configure the cross-compile environment.

Hint: don't use MinGW-4.0, it will compile but fossil won't work correctly, see
<a href="https://www.fossil-scm.org/index.html/tktview/18cff45a4e210430e24c">https://www.fossil-scm.org/index.html/tktview/18cff45a4e210430e24c</a>.

<li><p><i>MSVC</i> → Use the MSVC makefile.  First
change to the "win/" subdirectory ("<b>cd win</b>") then run
"<b>nmake /f Makefile.msc</b>".<br><br>Alternatively, the batch
file "<b>win\buildmsvc.bat</b>" may be used and it will attempt to
detect and use the latest installed version of MSVC.<br><br>To enable
the optional <a href="https://www.openssl.org/">OpenSSL</a> support,
first <a href="https://www.openssl.org/source/">download the official

      edits in any of your Fossil projects.  Use 
      "[/help?cmd=all | fossil all pull]" on your laptop
      prior to going off network (for example, on a long plane ride)
      to make sure you have all the latest content locally.  Then run
      "[/help/all|fossil all push]" when you get back online to upload
      your changes.
  
  5.  Sub-menu options on Timelines enable you to display a complete


      timeline graph by typing in some ridiculously large value like 10000000
      in the 'max' field box. You can page through the timeline by using the
      'older' link at the top and bottom left of the timeline. You may choose
      to display files that were changed and easily diff the current against
      the previous version by clicking 'diff'.
  
  6.  You can manually add a "c=CHECKIN" query parameter to the timeline
      URL to get a snapshot of what was going on about the time of some
      check-in.  The "CHECKIN" can be
      [./checkin_names.wiki | any valid check-in or version name], including
      tags, branch names, and dates.  For example, to see what was going 
      on in the Fossil repository on 2008-01-01, visit

their behavior.  See the [/help/server|online documentation] for an overview.
</p>
</blockquote>
<a name="inetd"></a>
<h2>Fossil as an inetd/xinetd or stunnel service</h2><blockquote>
<p>
A Fossil server can be launched on-demand by inetd or xinetd using
the [/help/http|fossil http] command. To launch Fossil from inetd, modify
your inetd configuration file (typically "/etc/inetd.conf") to contain a
line something like this:
<blockquote>
<pre>
12345 stream tcp nowait.1000 root /usr/bin/fossil /usr/bin/fossil http /home/fossil/repo.fossil
</pre>
</blockquote>
In this example, you are telling "inetd" that when an incoming connection
appears on port "12345", that it should launch the binary "/usr/bin/fossil"
program with the arguments shown.
Obviously you will
need to modify the pathnames for your particular setup.
The final argument is either the name of the fossil repository to be served,
or a directory containing multiple repositories.
</p>
<p>
For systems where the port-specification must be a symbolic name and cannot be 
numeric, add the desired name and port to /etc/services, e.g.:
<blockquote>
<pre>
fossil          12345/tcp  #fossil server
</pre>
</blockquote>
and use the symbolic name ('fossil' in this example) instead of the numeral ('12345') 
in inetd.conf. For details, see the relevant section in your system's documentation, e.g. 
the [https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/network-inetd.html|FreeBSD Handbook] in 
case you use FreeBSD.
</p>
<p>
If your system is running xinetd, then the configuration is likely to be
in the file "/etc/xinetd.conf" or in a subfile of "/etc/xinetd.d".
An xinetd configuration file will appear like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre>
service http-alt

</p>
<p>
In both cases notice that Fossil was launched as root.  This is not required,
but if it is done, then Fossil will automatically put itself into a chroot
jail for the user who owns the fossil repository before reading any information
off of the wire.
</p>
<p>
Inetd or xinetd must be enabled, and must be (re)started whenever their configuration
changes - consult your system's documentation for details. 
</p>
<p>
[https://www.stunnel.org/ | Stunnel version 5] is an inetd-like process that
accepts and decodes SSL-encrypted connections.  Fossil can be run directly from
stunnel in a manner similar to inetd and xinetd.  This can be used to provide
a secure link to a Fossil project.  The configuration needed to get stunnel5
to invoke Fossil is very similar to the inetd and xinetd examples shown above.
The relevant parts of an stunnel configuration might look something