> Note that you can likely also get a build directly by logging in to Github and heading to our [CI builds page](https://github.com/DISTRHO/Cardinal/actions/workflows/build.yml), the latest successful build has the files at the bottom of the page.
To build Cardinal locally on Debian-based Linux, you need a few dependencies (taken from the Github CI [build.yml](.github/workflows/build.yml)):
To quickly test you build setup you can run `make DEBUG=true NOPLUGINS=true -j $(nproc)`
The build will be in `bin/` where you should have vst2, vst3, lv2 and Jack standalone of all 3 compatible [variants](../README.md#plugin-variants) Full, FX and Synth.
The plugins expect to remain *within* their parent folder. If you move them around make sure to keep this structure.
You can alternatively use symlinks from the user-specific locations (this is recommended), e.g. for lv2:
`ln -s <path to repo>/bin/Cardinal.lv2 ~/.lv2/Cardinal.lv2`
There are a few build flags to know about, use them as `FLAG=true` or `false`:
*`DEBUG=true` to enable debugging
*`NOPLUGINS=true` to only build the Cardinal Core plugins for audio and Midi I/O and the fancy blank panel
*`WITH_LTO=true` to enable Link Time Optimization, this significantly increases the build time
*`SKIP_STRIPPING=true` to disable stripping the binaries if you don't need a full debug
#### Keeping up to date
Things are evolving quickly in Cardinal! To keep your local copy up to date with the changes, do:
```
git pull
git submodule update --init --recursive
```
### Packaging/distributing
If you are a package maintainer, use the flag `SYSDEPS=true` to use the system dependencies.
Currently, the only existing packages we are aware of are in Arch's AUR: [cardinal.lv2-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/cardinal.lv2-git/) and [cardinal-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/cardinal-git/).
