PCSX2 Documentation/Compiling on Linux

The following is a guide on how to obtain and compile the PCSX2 source code on the Linux platform.

For a more in-depth guide on the PCSX2 build process, please don't refer to this guide here, as it is massively outdated:

• PCSX2 Documentation/PCSX2 Build Scripts

Obtaining the Source Code

PCSX2 is hosted on GitHub, a website where people can contribute to each others' programming projects using the Git version control software. GitHub is essentially just a showcase for your projects, to actually work on them you need to download and install Git itself.

• Arch Linux: # pacman -S git
• Debian: # apt-get install git
• Fedora: # dnf install git

Next you are going to want to create a directory on your machine for the PCSX2 code to live in. For this example, let's say the directory you create is /home/your/workspace. You are going to want clone the remote PCSX2 repository like so:

<source lang="bash"> $ cd /home/your/workspace $ git clone [email protected]:PCSX2/pcsx2.git --recurse </source>

You are now making a copy of the remote repository into your own directory.

Setting up the Build System

PCSX2 uses the cmake build system to create project files and other things for multiple platforms, and GCC or clang to compile on the linux platform.

Quick compile instructions:

Compiling a release build.

Compiler/build system	command
gcc/make	mkdir build && cd build && cmake --preset=gcc-release .. && make -j <number of jobs. Say 4 or 6 if you aren't sure.>
gcc/ninja	mkdir build && cd build && cmake --preset=gcc-release-ninja .. && ninja
clang/ninja/lld	mkdir build && cd build && cmake --preset=clang-release .. && ninja

And run bin/pcsx2-qt .

Compiling

To compile on linux, you will need git, cmake, and a compiler. For a compiler, gcc and clang are supported. If you are going to use the clang presets, also install lld as a linker. You'll also need make or ninja. Ninja is recommended, and required if using the clang presets.

Arch

The required packages to compile PCSX2 can be installed with: # pacman -S cmake gcc

and optionally: # pacman -S clang lld ninja

(base-devel has gcc in it as well, and may be a good idea to install.)

Fedora

The required packages to compile PCSX2 can be installed with: # sudo yum install cmake g++

and optionally: # sudo yum install ninja-build lld clang

Ubuntu

The required packages to compile PCSX2 can be installed with: # sudo apt install cmake g++

and optionally: # sudo apt install ninja-build lld clang

(Like Arch, if you're having trouble, install build-essential)

openSUSE

The required packages to compile PCSX2 can be installed with: sudo zypper install cmake gcc gcc-c++

and optionally: # sudo zypper install ninja-build lld llvm-clang

(Not absolutely sure the latter is correct. Could use testing.)

Installing the Dependencies

PCSX2 relies on a number of 3rd party software libraries, so you are going to need to obtain those before you can compile the source code. Here's a non-exhaustive list of these dependencies.

If you don't have the following, it will use prebundled versions: <source lang="bash"> sdl2 >= 2.0.22 fmt >= 7.1.3 rapidyaml >= 0.4.0 zstd >= 1.4.5 libzip >= 1.8.0 </source>

You have to have: <source lang="bash"> pcap liblzma libaio libsoundtouch qt6 </source>

If your distribution has development versions of packages, you'll probably need those packages as well. With qt 6, we're probably talking something like:
Fedora: <source>yum install qt6-qtbase-devel qt6-qtbase-private-devel qt6-qttools-devel</source>

OpenSuse: <source>sudo zypper install qt6-base-devel qt6-base-private-devel qt6-tools-devel qt6-linguist-devel</source>

Ubuntu: <source>apt install qt6-base-dev qt6-base-private-dev qt6-tools-dev qt6-tools-dev-tools qt6-l10n-tools</source>

(All of those worked at one point, but need to be doublechecked.)

Compiling the Source

If you didn't already get pcsx2's source, run:
$ git clone [email protected]:PCSX2/pcsx2.git --recurse

Now go into the pcsx2 directory: <source>$ cd ./pcsx2</source> If you forgot the "--recurse" part when cloning, run this command: <source>$ git submodule --init --recursive</source> Now, make a build directory: <source>$ mkdir -p ./build && cd ./build</source>

Now, it is time to compile the source code! Easiest way to do that is with a preset.

If you're using gcc/make: <source lang="bash">$ cmake --preset=gcc-release .. $ make -j <number of jobs. Say 4 or 6 if you aren't sure.></source>

If you are using gcc & ninja: <source lang="bash">$ cmake --preset=gcc-release-ninja .. $ ninja</source>

And if you are using clang with lld and ninja: <source lang="bash">$ cmake --preset=clang-release .. $ ninja</source>

Here's a full list, if you want a different preset:

For reference, here is the current list of presets:

Name	Description
ninja-multi	Generates ninja build files for debug/devel/and release builds for gcc.
gcc-debug	For making a debug build with gcc and make.
gcc-devel	For making a development build with gcc and make.
gcc-release	For making a release build with gcc and make. Does not have LTO.
gcc-debug-ninja	For making a debug build with gcc and ninja. (ninja builds faster then make.)
gcc-devel-ninja	For making a development build with gcc and ninja.(ninja builds faster then make.)
gcc-release-ninja	For making a release build with gcc and ninja. Does not have LTO. (ninja builds faster then make.)
clang-debug	For making a debug build with clang and ninja. (Fastest builds.)
clang-devel	For making a development build with clang and ninja. (Fastest builds.)
clang-release	For making a release build with clang and ninja. (This one has lto, so has the slowest build time.)

If omit any of the libraries or headers specified above (or other, newer dependencies not included here), CMake will abort, your compiler may skip certain parts of the overall build or the linker may fail to link all the dependencies into the final PCSX2 executable. The output from any one of these tools should be able to tell the dependencies you're missing.

Running the Binary

This process may take several minutes. Once it has finished, you should be able to run the pcsx2 binary, which should've been output to the build/bin/ directory.

<source lang="bash">$ ./bin/pcsx2-qt</source>

Additional external, likely outdated links

• PCSX2 for Debian/Ubuntu
• PCSX2 for Archlinux
• PCSX2 for Fedora
• PCSX2 for Gentoo