Installation

The current version of Xoptfoil2 is available in the Releases section of the GitHub repository. The assets include zip files for:

• a ready-built version for Windows
• the source files for building Xoptfoil2 under Linux

Windows

Download the Windows zip file and extract it into any directory, for example directly on the Desktop for a first try. Xoptfoil2 is a lightweight installation and does not install other artifacts on your PC.

To use Xoptfoil2 from any directory, add its installation folder to the Windows Path environment variable. This avoids having to copy xoptfoil2.exe into each new project folder.

Linux (Debian-based)

Download the Source Code tar file and extract it in any folder. In addition to the standard development tools of a typical Linux distribution, the Fortran compiler and CMake are required. These tools can be installed with:

sudo apt install gfortran
sudo apt install cmake

In the project root, run the build_linux.sh script:

bash build_linux.sh

This builds and installs Xoptfoil2 to the repository-local default location linux/bin.

By copying xoptfoil2 and worker to /usr/local/bin, they can be accessed from every directory. In some cases, you may need to mark the files as executable:

sudo chmod +x xoptfoil2
sudo chmod +x worker

If you prefer a system-wide installation via CMake, configure with /usr/local as install prefix and run install with sudo:

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local
sudo cmake --build build --target install

Note: CMake appends bin because the project installs executables with DESTINATION bin, so the final location becomes /usr/local/bin.

Linux command names are case-sensitive. Use xoptfoil2 (lowercase), not Xoptfoil2.

CMake build

Independent of the helper scripts, the standard CMake workflow can be used on both platforms:

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build
cmake --build build --target install

To override the default install location:

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<your_path>

The binary version string is defined centrally in the root VERSION file. For ad-hoc builds it can be overridden during configuration with -DXOPTFOIL_VERSION_STRING=<value>.

The default install locations are windows/bin (Windows) and linux/bin (Linux).

Docker

Thanks to @jblamyatiffremerformer for sharing this Docker setup example.

It can be convenient to run Xoptfoil2 inside a Docker container.

The following Dockerfile builds the project and prepares a working directory for it:

FROM ubuntu:24.04

LABEL maintainer="JB Lamy"
LABEL description="Dockerfile to build a container for Xoptfoil2 - Airfoil optimization tool"

# Avoid interaction during the installation process
ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive

# Install dependencies (gfortran, cmake, make, git)
RUN apt-get update && \
    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
    gfortran \
    cmake \
    make \
    git \
    ca-certificates \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Clone the repository locally
RUN git clone https://github.com/jxjo/Xoptfoil2.git /opt/xoptfoil2

# Set the project directory
WORKDIR /opt/xoptfoil2

# Build the program
RUN bash build_linux.sh

# Create a workspace for inputs and outputs
RUN mkdir -p /workspace
WORKDIR /workspace

# Add the binaries to the Docker PATH
ENV PATH="/opt/xoptfoil2/linux/bin:${PATH}"

# Start an interactive shell inside the container
CMD ["/bin/bash"]

How to use a Xoptfoil2 Docker image

This Docker image lets you run Xoptfoil2 without installing any compilers or dependencies on your machine. Everything needed for the build and execution is packaged in the container.

Step 1 — Install Docker

Docker is a tool that runs isolated environments called containers. Think of it as a lightweight virtual machine that includes only what is necessary.

On Linux (Ubuntu / Debian)

Open a terminal and run:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y docker.io

Step 2 — Add your user to the Docker group

Add your user to the Docker group so you do not need to use sudo every time:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Step 3 — Verify the installation

Log out and log back in for the change to take effect. Then verify the installation:

docker --version

You should see output similar to Docker version 24.x.x.

On Windows / macOS

Download Docker Desktop from https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop and follow the installer. Once installed, open a terminal (PowerShell on Windows or Terminal on macOS) and verify:

docker --version

Step 4 — Build the image

From the project root, run:

docker build -t xoptfoil2 .

Step 5 — Run the container

Start an interactive shell:

On Linux/macOS:

docker run -it --rm -v "$(pwd)":/workspace xoptfoil2

On Windows PowerShell:

docker run -it --rm -v "${PWD}:/workspace" xoptfoil2

From inside the container, you can run Xoptfoil2 commands, for example:

xoptfoil2 --help