Install Barn

Install Barn 0.9.0 on macOS or Linux, check requirements, and keep the application up to date.

Barn 0.9.0 provides archives for macOS and Linux on arm64 and amd64, plus DEB and RPM packages for Linux. Install it as your normal user, then follow the Linux quick start or macOS VM guide.

Install the release

Choose your host operating system: use Homebrew on macOS or the download installer on Linux.

Install Barn and its QEMU dependency with Homebrew:

brew install pgsty/infra/barn
barn version

Run brew as your normal user, without sudo. macOS guests also require Apple Silicon, macOS 27+, and Barn Mac.app. Run barn mac doctor to check the native component; see the Mac installation instructions.

Download the installer and select the release. It chooses the amd64 or arm64 archive, verifies its SHA-256, and installs into ~/.local/bin without sudo:

curl -fLO https://github.com/pgsty/barn/releases/download/v0.9.0/install.sh
BARN_VERSION=0.9.0 bash install.sh
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
barn version

Add the PATH line to your shell’s startup file, such as ~/.bashrc for Bash. The installer keeps the CLI and its matching hosts helper in a versioned directory; preserve that layout.

Check the installed version with barn version. Installing Barn does not start a VM. Interactive barn up prepares missing Linux-guest dependencies and host networking, requesting administrator access when needed. Use barn setup --dry-run to inspect the plan. Run Barn itself as your normal user.

System requirements

guest	Host	Runtime
Linux	macOS, Apple Silicon or Intel	QEMU 8.2.1+, HVF
Linux	Linux, arm64 or amd64	QEMU 6.2+, usable KVM, NetworkManager or systemd-networkd
macOS 27	Apple Silicon, macOS 27+, logged-in desktop session	Barn Mac native component; no QEMU required

A default Linux VM uses 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB of memory, with a 64 GiB root disk and a 128 GiB test data disk. Those are virtual capacities; the files grow as data is written. Leave memory and disk space for the host as well.

The first Mac VM needs about 65 GiB of free disk space for Apple’s restore image, the installed base, and initial writes. Its defaults are 4 vCPUs, 8 GiB of memory, and a 100 GiB disk. See platforms and limits for guest-specific restrictions.

Other installation methods

Linux packages

These examples use amd64; on ARM64, use the corresponding linux_arm64 asset. Packages declare their QEMU, firmware, and SSH dependencies.

Debian / Ubuntu

barn_release=https://github.com/pgsty/barn/releases/download/v0.9.0
curl -fLO "$barn_release/barn_0.9.0_linux_amd64.deb"
sudo apt install ./barn_0.9.0_linux_amd64.deb
barn version

RHEL / Fedora

barn_release=https://github.com/pgsty/barn/releases/download/v0.9.0
curl -fLO "$barn_release/barn_0.9.0_linux_amd64.rpm"
sudo dnf install ./barn_0.9.0_linux_amd64.rpm
barn version

Manual archives

Download the archive matching your host from Barn 0.9.0 on GitHub. Names follow barn_0.9.0_<os>_<arch>.tar.gz, where os is darwin or linux. Extract it and put its bin/ directory on PATH. Keep barn, barn-hosts-helper, and any bundled Barn Mac.app together.

Build from source

To develop Barn or build the native Mac component yourself, follow Build from Source.

Upgrade Barn

Use the same installation method for upgrades. On macOS, update with Homebrew:

brew update
brew upgrade pgsty/infra/barn
barn version

On Linux, repeat the installer commands with the version you want, or install the new DEB/RPM package. Then check command -v barn and barn version to confirm which binary your shell selects. Review the release notes before upgrading.

The application, Linux images, and macOS bases have separate update commands:

What to update	How
Barn application	Install the chosen release
Linux image catalog	`barn update` (or `barn update --mirror`)
macOS base for new machines	`barn mac image update`

Image updates keep existing VM disks intact. To replace a machine’s OS, review the relevant recreate workflow; it replaces the guest disk. Stop Mac machines before replacing their native component.

For network or PATH problems, see troubleshooting. For removal, see uninstall and cleanup.