Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/signalwire/freeswitch/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
FreeSWITCH can be installed in two ways: from pre-built packages provided through the SignalWire package repository (recommended for production), or compiled from source for maximum control over build flags and module selection. Pre-built packages are available for Debian and its derivatives. Building from source works on Linux, macOS, BSD, and Windows. Both paths produce a fully functional FreeSWITCH installation.
Pre-built packages are hosted on the SignalWire package repository and require a SignalWire Personal Access Token (PAT) for authentication. You can generate one free at the SignalWire Dashboard. Enterprise customers with a FreeSWITCH Advantage subscription use an API Token instead. Debian / Ubuntu
CentOS / RHEL
Build from Source
The recommended installation method for Debian-based systems is the FSGET script, which configures the SignalWire apt repository and installs FreeSWITCH in a single command.Install prerequisites
Ensure curl is available on your system:apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl
Configure the SignalWire apt repository
Run the fsget script with your SignalWire Personal Access Token (PAT). Community tokens begin with pat_; enterprise (FreeSWITCH Advantage) tokens begin with PT. The optional third argument install causes the script to install FreeSWITCH immediately after configuring the repository:curl -sSL https://freeswitch.signalwire.com/repo/deb/debian-release/fsget.sh | bash -s YOUR_PAT_TOKEN release install
YOUR_PAT_TOKEN with your actual token. Use prerelease instead of release to track the master branch builds.To configure the repository without installing immediately, omit the install argument:curl -sSL https://freeswitch.signalwire.com/repo/deb/debian-release/fsget.sh | bash -s YOUR_PAT_TOKEN
Install the FreeSWITCH meta-package
If you did not pass install to fsget, install the meta-package now:apt-get install -y freeswitch-meta-all
freeswitch-meta-all package pulls in FreeSWITCH core plus the full set of commonly used modules and sound files. Enable and start the service
Enable FreeSWITCH to start on boot and then start it immediately:systemctl enable freeswitch
systemctl start freeswitch
Pre-built packages from the SignalWire repository are available for Debian-based distributions only. On CentOS or RHEL, you must build FreeSWITCH from source. See the Build from Source tab for full instructions.For an up-to-date CentOS/RHEL community guide, refer to the FreeSWITCH Confluence wiki. Building from source gives you full control over which modules are compiled and is the only option on platforms without pre-built packages (macOS, BSD, custom Linux). The Debian 11 Dockerfile in the repository serves as a canonical reference for all required dependencies.Install build dependencies
On Debian/Ubuntu, install the full dependency set:apt-get update && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y \
git build-essential cmake automake autoconf libtool-bin pkg-config \
libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libdb-dev unixodbc-dev libncurses5-dev \
libexpat1-dev libgdbm-dev bison erlang-dev libtpl-dev libtiff5-dev \
uuid-dev libpcre2-dev libedit-dev libsqlite3-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev \
nasm libogg-dev libspeex-dev libspeexdsp-dev libldns-dev python3-dev \
libavformat-dev libswscale-dev libavresample-dev liblua5.2-dev \
libopus-dev libpq-dev libsndfile1-dev libflac-dev libvorbis-dev \
libshout3-dev libmpg123-dev libmp3lame-dev
Clone and build required libraries
FreeSWITCH depends on libks, sofia-sip, spandsp, and signalwire-c. Build and install them before compiling FreeSWITCH:git clone https://github.com/signalwire/libks /usr/src/libs/libks
git clone https://github.com/freeswitch/sofia-sip /usr/src/libs/sofia-sip
git clone https://github.com/freeswitch/spandsp /usr/src/libs/spandsp
git clone https://github.com/signalwire/signalwire-c /usr/src/libs/signalwire-c
# libks
cd /usr/src/libs/libks && cmake . -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DWITH_LIBBACKTRACE=1 && make install
# sofia-sip
cd /usr/src/libs/sofia-sip && ./bootstrap.sh && \
./configure CFLAGS="-g -ggdb" --with-pic --with-glib=no --without-doxygen \
--disable-stun --prefix=/usr && make -j$(nproc) && make install
# spandsp
cd /usr/src/libs/spandsp && ./bootstrap.sh && \
./configure CFLAGS="-g -ggdb" --with-pic --prefix=/usr && make -j$(nproc) && make install
# signalwire-c
cd /usr/src/libs/signalwire-c && \
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/lib/pkgconfig cmake . -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr && make install
Clone the FreeSWITCH source
git clone https://github.com/signalwire/freeswitch /usr/src/freeswitch
cd /usr/src/freeswitch
Bootstrap, configure, compile, and install
./bootstrap.sh -j
./configure
make -j$(nproc)
make install
make cd-sounds-install
make cd-moh-install
Copy the example configuration
cp -r /usr/src/freeswitch/conf/vanilla /etc/freeswitch
Directory Layout
After installation, FreeSWITCH uses the following standard directories:
| Path | Purpose |
|---|
/etc/freeswitch | Main configuration directory. Contains freeswitch.xml, vars.xml, dialplan, directory, and module configs. |
/var/log/freeswitch | Log files, including freeswitch.log and the compiled XML snapshot freeswitch.xml.fsxml. |
/var/run/freeswitch | PID file and runtime socket. |
/var/lib/freeswitch/db | Internal SQLite databases for registrations, call state, voicemail, etc. |
/var/lib/freeswitch/recordings | Default destination for call recordings. |
/var/lib/freeswitch/storage | Voicemail message storage. |
/usr/share/freeswitch/sounds | Bundled audio prompts and music on hold. |
/usr/share/freeswitch/conf | Example configuration templates (vanilla, default, etc.). |
/usr/lib/freeswitch/mod | Compiled module shared libraries (.so files). |
/usr/local/freeswitch, which places configs at /usr/local/freeswitch/conf, logs at /usr/local/freeswitch/log, and so on. Pass --prefix=/usr to ./configure to match the package layout.
Verify Installation
Confirm that FreeSWITCH is installed and check its version:
Expected output (version number will vary):
FreeSWITCH Version 1.10.x-release (git) ...
fs_cli:
fs_cli -H 127.0.0.1 -P 8021 -p ClueCon -x "version"
systemctl status freeswitch
