Linux

RocksDB provides comprehensive support for Linux distributions, with optimized builds for various package managers and architectures.

Prerequisites

Compiler Requirements

RocksDB requires a modern C++ compiler with C++20 support:

GCC: Version 11 or higher
Clang: Version 10 or higher

Recommended Dependencies

While RocksDB can compile without any dependencies, installing compression libraries significantly improves performance:

zlib: General-purpose compression
bzip2: High compression ratio
lz4: Extremely fast compression
snappy: Fast compression optimized for speed
zstandard: Fast real-time compression algorithm

Optional dependencies:

gflags: Required for command-line tools
clang-format: Required for code formatting checks

Ubuntu / Debian

Update compiler

Ensure you have GCC 11 or higher:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential
gcc --version  # Should show 11 or higher

Install dependencies

Install compression libraries and tools:

sudo apt-get install libgflags-dev libsnappy-dev zlib1g-dev libbz2-dev liblz4-dev libzstd-dev

Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/facebook/rocksdb.git
cd rocksdb

Build RocksDB

make static_lib

make shared_lib

make all

Don’t use make or make all for production builds. These compile in debug mode, which is significantly slower than release mode.

Run tests (optional)

make check

CentOS / RHEL / Fedora

Update compiler

Ensure you have GCC 11 or higher:

sudo yum install gcc gcc-c++
gcc --version  # Should show 11 or higher

Install gflags from source

git clone https://github.com/gflags/gflags.git
cd gflags
git checkout v2.2.0
./configure && make && sudo make install
cd ..

After installation, add the include and library paths:

export CPATH=/usr/local/include:$CPATH
export LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LIBRARY_PATH

Install compression libraries

sudo yum install snappy snappy-devel
sudo yum install zlib zlib-devel
sudo yum install bzip2 bzip2-devel
sudo yum install lz4-devel
sudo yum install libzstd-devel

sudo dnf install snappy snappy-devel
sudo dnf install zlib zlib-devel
sudo dnf install bzip2 bzip2-devel
sudo dnf install lz4-devel
sudo dnf install libzstd-devel

Clone and build

git clone https://github.com/facebook/rocksdb.git
cd rocksdb
make static_lib

Installing zstandard on older systems

If zstandard is not available through your package manager:

sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install libzstd-devel

wget https://github.com/facebook/zstd/archive/v1.1.3.tar.gz
mv v1.1.3.tar.gz zstd-1.1.3.tar.gz
tar zxvf zstd-1.1.3.tar.gz
cd zstd-1.1.3
make && sudo make install

Build Options

Portable Build

By default, RocksDB optimizes for your specific CPU (-march=native). To build a binary compatible with different architectures:

PORTABLE=1 make static_lib

For a reasonable compromise between optimization and compatibility on x86_64:

PORTABLE=haswell make static_lib

This supports most processors made since 2013 while maintaining good performance.

Debug vs Release

Production builds: Always use make static_lib or make shared_lib (release mode).Development builds: Use make all or make check (debug mode).

Verification

Verify your installation:

# Check library was built
ls -lh librocksdb.a

# Run a simple test
make check

Community

Platform Support

Prerequisites

Compiler Requirements

Recommended Dependencies

Ubuntu / Debian

CentOS / RHEL / Fedora

Installing zstandard on older systems

Build Options

Portable Build

Debug vs Release

Verification

Next Steps

Getting Started

API Reference

​Prerequisites

​Compiler Requirements

​Recommended Dependencies

​Ubuntu / Debian

​CentOS / RHEL / Fedora

​Installing zstandard on older systems

​Build Options

​Portable Build

​Debug vs Release

​Verification

​Next Steps

Getting Started

API Reference

Prerequisites

Compiler Requirements

Recommended Dependencies

Ubuntu / Debian

CentOS / RHEL / Fedora

Installing zstandard on older systems

Build Options

Portable Build

Debug vs Release

Verification

Next Steps