zsh

Summary

Clones the zsh-users/zsh repository and compiles Zsh from source, installing it to $ZPFX and optionally replacing /bin/zsh — useful for running a specific or newer version of Zsh alongside the system-installed one.

Syntax / Usage

zi pack for zsh-users/zsh
zi pack"<version>" for zsh-users/zsh
zi pack"<version>-tcsetpgrp" for zsh-users/zsh

Available profiles: default (latest HEAD), 5.1.1, 5.2.4, 5.3.1, 5.4.2, 5.5.1, 5.6.2, 5.7.1, 5.8, 5.9 — each also with a -tcsetpgrp variant.

Details

• Provides: zsh binary compiled and installed to $ZPFX; optionally copies it to /bin/zsh (backing up the original as /bin/zsh.bkp) if sudo is available.
• All profiles share the same base ices: git, as"null", nocompile, nocompletions, lucid, countdown, id-as"zsh-users/zsh", atpull"%atclone".
• default profile: clones the current HEAD and runs ./.preconfig then ./configure --prefix=$ZPFX && make install (falls back to make install.bin install.fns install.modules if yodl is missing for man pages).
• Versioned profiles (e.g. 5.9): run git checkout --quiet zsh-5.9 before the configure/make step.
• -tcsetpgrp variants add --with-tcsetpgrp to the ./configure invocation for systems that need explicit tcsetpgrp support.
• Requires: cc, make, cp, rm.

Examples

# Build latest Zsh from source
zi pack for zsh-users/zsh

# Build a specific version
zi pack"5.9" for zsh-users/zsh

# Build 5.8 with tcsetpgrp support
zi pack"5.8-tcsetpgrp" for zsh-users/zsh

Caveats / Common Mistakes

• The countdown ice causes a visible countdown before the build starts — this is intentional to give the user a chance to cancel.
• If yodl is not installed, man pages are skipped; the build proceeds with a warning.
• The package attempts to replace /bin/zsh via sudo cp only if sudo is available and /bin/zsh exists — no error is raised if it cannot.
• Build time can be several minutes; not suitable for lazy-loading or turbo mode.

See Also

• pkg-zsh-static — hermetic static Zsh binary (no build required)
• pkg-overview — how zi pack works