The HarfBuzz source code is hosted at github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz. The same source tree is also available at the Freedesktop.org site. Tarball releases and Win32 binary bundles (which include the libharfbuzz DLL, hb-view.exe, hb-shape.exe, and all dependencies) of HarfBuzz can be downloaded from github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/releases or from Freedesktop.org. Release notes are posted with each new release to provide an overview of the changes. The project tracks bug reports and other issues on GitHub. Discussion and questions are welcome on the HarfBuzz mailing list. The API included in the hb.h file will not change in a compatibility-breaking way in any release. However, other, peripheral headers are more likely to go through minor modifications. We will do our best to never change APIs in an incompatible way. We will never break the ABI.

(1) To build HarfBuzz on Linux, you must first install the development packages for FreeType, Cairo, and GLib. The exact commands required for this step will vary depending on the Linux distribution you use. For example, on an Ubuntu or Debian system, you would run: sudo apt install gcc g++ libfreetype6-dev libglib2.0-dev libcairo2-dev On Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, or other Red-Hat–based systems, you would run: sudo yum install gcc gcc-c++ freetype-devel glib2-devel cairo-devel (2) The next step depends on whether you are building from the source in a downloaded release tarball or from the source directly from the git repository. (2)(a) If you downloaded the HarfBuzz source code in a tarball, you can now extract the source. From a shell in the top-level directory of the extracted source code, you can run ./configure followed by make as with any other standard package. This should leave you with a shared library in the src/ directory, and a few utility programs including hb-view and hb-shape under the util/ directory. (2)(b) If you are building from the source in the HarfBuzz git repository, rather than installing from a downloaded tarball release, then you must install two more auxiliary tools before you can build for the first time: pkg-config and ragel. On Ubuntu or Debian, run: sudo apt-get install autoconf automake libtool pkg-config ragel gtk-doc-tools On Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, run: sudo yum install autoconf automake libtool pkgconfig ragel gtk-doc With pkg-config and ragel installed, you can now run ./autogen.sh, followed by ./configure and make to build HarfBuzz.

On Windows, consider using Microsoft's free vcpkg utility to build HarfBuzz, its dependencies, and other open-source libraries. If you need to build HarfBuzz from source, first put the ragel binary on your PATH, then follow the appveyor CI cmake build instructions.

There are two ways to build HarfBuzz on Mac systems: MacPorts and Homebrew. The process is similar to the process used on a Linux system. (1) You must first install the development packages for FreeType, Cairo, and GLib. If you are using MacPorts, you should run: sudo port install freetype glib2 cairo If you are using Homebrew, you should run: brew install freetype glib cairo (2) The next step depends on whether you are building from the source in a downloaded release tarball or from the source directly from the git repository. (2)(a) If you are installing HarfBuzz from a downloaded tarball release, extract the tarball and open a Terminal in the extracted source-code directory. Run: ./configure followed by: make to build HarfBuzz. (2)(b) Alternatively, if you are building HarfBuzz from the source in the HarfBuzz git repository, then you must install several built-time dependencies before proceeding. If you are using MacPorts, you should run: sudo port install autoconf automake libtool pkgconfig ragel gtk-doc to install the build dependencies. If you are using Homebrew, you should run: brew install autoconf automake libtool pkgconfig ragel gtk-doc Finally, you can run: ./autogen.sh (3) You can now build HarfBuzz (on either a MacPorts or a Homebrew system) by running: ./configure followed by: make This should leave you with a shared library in the src/ directory, and a few utility programs including hb-view and hb-shape under the util/ directory.

The instructions in the "Building HarfBuzz" section will build the source code under its default configuration. If needed, the following additional configuration options are available. --with-libstdc++ Allow linking with libstdc++. (Default = no) This option enables or disables linking HarfBuzz to the system's libstdc++ library. --with-glib Use GLib. (Default = auto) This option enables or disables usage of the GLib library. The default setting is to check for the presence of GLib and, if it is found, build with GLib support. GLib is native to GNU/Linux systems but is available on other operating system as well. --with-gobject Use GObject. (Default = no) This option enables or disables usage of the GObject library. The default setting is to check for the presence of GObject and, if it is found, build with GObject support. GObject is native to GNU/Linux systems but is available on other operating system as well. --with-cairo Use Cairo. (Default = auto) This option enables or disables usage of the Cairo graphics-rendering library. The default setting is to check for the presence of Cairo and, if it is found, build with Cairo support. --with-fontconfig Use Fontconfig. (Default = auto) This option enables or disables usage of the Fontconfig library, which provides font-matching functions and provides access to font properties. The default setting is to check for the presence of Fontconfig and, if it is found, build with Fontconfig support. --with-icu Use the ICU library. (Default = auto) This option enables or disables usage of the International Components for Unicode (ICU) library, which provides access to Unicode Character Database (UCD) properties as well as normalization and conversion functions. The default setting is to check for the presence of ICU and, if it is found, build with ICU support. --with-ucdn Use HarfBuzz's built-in UCDN library. (Default = auto) The HarfBuzz source tree includes a Unicode Database and Normalization (UCDN) library that provides access to basic character properties in the Unicode Character Database (UCD) as well as low-level normalization functions. HarfBuzz can be built without this UCDN support if the usage of a different UCDN library is desired. --with-graphite2 Use the Graphite2 library. (Default = no) This option enables or disables usage of the Graphite2 library, which provides support for the Graphite shaping model. --with-freetype Use the FreeType library. (Default = auto) This option enables or disables usage of the FreeType font-rendering library. The default setting is to check for the presence of FreeType and, if it is found, build with FreeType support. --with-uniscribe Use the Uniscribe library. (Default = no) This option enables or disables usage of the Uniscribe font-rendering library. Uniscribe is available on Windows systems. --with-directwrite Use the DirectWrite library (experimental). (Default = no) This option enables or disables usage of the DirectWrite font-rendering library. DirectWrite is available on Windows systems. --with-coretext Use the CoreText library. (Default = no) This option enables or disables usage of the CoreText library. CoreText is available on macOS and iOS systems.