Zig is a general-purpose programming language built for simplicity, performance, and reliability. Andrew Kelley created it in 2015 as a modern successor to C. It offers direct interoperability with existing C code while eliminating common C and C++ pitfalls like hidden control flow, macro complexity, and fragile build systems.
Zig stands out through its explicit error handling, compile-time code execution, and a built-in cross-compilation toolchain. These features make it highly practical for developers targeting multiple platforms. If you are building embedded firmware, high-performance game engines, or WebAssembly modules, Zig provides a lean, no-magic experience. It lets you focus on solving problems rather than fighting the language itself.
Its growing ecosystem and adoption in production projects make it an exciting newcomer in systems programming. Getting it up and running on Fedora is straightforward, and we will walk through the process in this guide.
Installing Zig on Fedora Linux
You can install the Zig compiler directly from Fedora's official repositories using the DNF package manager.
sudo dnf install zig
Once the installation finishes, verify it by running the zig command without any arguments:
zig
The output should look similar to this:
info: Usage: zig [command] [options]
Commands:
build Build project from build.zig
fetch Copy a package into global cache and print its hash
init Initialize a Zig package in the current directory
build-exe Create executable from source or object files
build-lib Create library from source or object files
build-obj Create object from source or object files
test Perform unit testing
test-obj Create object for unit testing
run Create executable and run immediately
ast-check Look for simple compile errors in any set of files
fmt Reformat Zig source into canonical form
reduce Minimize a bug report
translate-c Convert C code to Zig code
ar Combine object files into static archive
cc Use Zig as a drop-in C compiler
c++ Use Zig as a drop-in C++ compiler
dlltool Use Zig as a drop-in dlltool.exe
lib Use Zig as a drop-in lib.exe
objcopy Manipulate executables and relocatables
objdump Print information about executables and relocatables
ranlib Use Zig as a drop-in ranlib
rc Use Zig as a drop-in rc.exe
env Print lib path, std path, cache directory, and version
help Print this help and exit
std View standard library documentation in a browser
libc Display native libc paths file or validate one
targets List available compilation targets
version Print version number and exit
zen Print Zen of Zig and exit
General Options:
-h, --help Print command-specific usage
error: expected command argument
Initializing a New Zig Project
Next, let's create a new directory for your code and initialize a basic Zig project.
mkdir -p hello-zig
cd hello-zig
zig init
The zig init command generates a default project structure containing your build files and source code:
info: created build.zig
info: created build.zig.zon
info: created src/main.zig
info: created src/root.zig
info: see `zig build --help` for a menu of options
Building the Zig Project
With the project initialized, you can compile it using the build command:
zig build
Viewing Zig Package Details via DNF
If you ever need to check the specific version, repository, or license information for your installed Zig package, use the dnf info command:
dnf info zig
Updating and loading repositories:
Fedora 44 - x86_64 - Updates 100% | 43.3 KiB/s | 11.2 KiB | 00m00s
Repositories loaded.
Installed packages
Name : zig
Epoch : 0
Version : 0.16.0
Release : 1.fc44
Architecture : x86_64
Installed size : 24.8 MiB
Source : zig-0.16.0-1.fc44.src.rpm
From repository : updates
Summary : Programming language for maintaining robust, optimal, and reusable software
URL : https://ziglang.org
License : MIT AND NCSA AND LGPL-2.1-or-later AND LGPL-2.1-or-later WITH GCC-exception-2.0 AND GPL-2.0-or-later AND GPL-2.0-or-later WITH GCC-exception-2.0 AND BSD-3-Clause AND Inner
: -Net-2.0 AND ISC AND LicenseRef-Fedora-Public-Domain AND GFDL-1.1-or-later AND ZPL-2.1
Description : Zig is an open-source programming language designed for robustness, optimality,
: and clarity. This package provides the zig compiler and the associated runtime.
Vendor : Fedora Project
That's it, folks! Happy coding.
