Install CockroachDB on Linux

Download the binary

The CockroachDB binary for Linux requires glibc, libncurses, and tzdata, which are found by default on nearly all Linux distributions, with Alpine as the notable exception.

1. Visit Releases to download the CockroachDB archive for the architecture of your Linux host. The archive contains the cockroach binary and the supporting libraries that are used to provide spatial features. Extract the archive and optionally copy the cockroach binary into your PATH so you can execute cockroach commands from any shell. If you get a permission error, use sudo.

Note:

If you plan to use CockroachDB's spatial features, you must complete the following steps. Otherwise, your installation is now complete.

2. CockroachDB uses custom-built versions of the GEOS libraries. Copy these libraries to one of the locations where CockroachDB expects to find them.

   By default, CockroachDB looks for external libraries in /usr/local/lib/cockroach or a lib subdirectory of the CockroachDB binary's current directory. If you place these libraries in another location, you must pass the location in the --spatial-libs flag to cockroach start. The instructions below assume the /usr/local/lib/cockroach location.

   1. Create the directory where the external libraries will be stored:

      mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/cockroach

   2. Copy the library files to the directory. In the following commands, replace {ARCHITECTURE} with linux-amd64 for Intel, or with linux-arm64 for ARM.

      cp -i cockroach-v24.2.3.linux-{ARCHITECTURE}/lib/libgeos.so /usr/local/lib/cockroach/

      cp -i cockroach-v24.2.3.linux-{ARCHITECTURE}/lib/libgeos_c.so /usr/local/lib/cockroach/

      If you get a permissions error, prefix the command with sudo.

3. Verify that CockroachDB can execute spatial queries.

   1. Make sure the cockroach binary you just installed is the one that runs when you type cockroach in your shell:

      which cockroach

      /usr/local/bin/cockroach

   2. Start a temporary, in-memory cluster using cockroach demo:

      cockroach demo

   3. In the demo cluster's interactive SQL shell, run the following command to test that the spatial libraries have loaded properly:

      > SELECT ST_IsValid(ST_MakePoint(1,2));

      You should see the following output:

        st_isvalid
      --------------
      true
      (1 row)

      If your cockroach binary is not properly accessing the dynamically linked C libraries in /usr/local/lib/cockroach, it will output an error message like the one below.

      ERROR: st_isvalid(): geos: error during GEOS init: geos: cannot load GEOS from dir "/usr/local/lib/cockroach": failed to execute dlopen
                Failed running "sql"

4. Keep up-to-date with CockroachDB releases and best practices:

   Thanks!

Use Kubernetes

To orchestrate CockroachDB using Kubernetes, either with configuration files or the Helm package manager, use the following tutorials:

• Orchestrate CockroachDB Locally with Minikube
• Orchestrate CockroachDB in a Single Kubernetes Cluster
• Orchestrate CockroachDB Across Multiple Kubernetes Clusters

Use Docker

For CockroachDB v22.2.beta-5 and above, Docker images are multi-platform images that contain binaries for both Intel and ARM. Multi-platform images do not take up additional space on your Docker host.

Docker images for previous releases contain Intel binaries only. Intel binaries can run on ARM systems, but with a significant reduction in performance.

CockroachDB on ARM is in Limited Access in v22.2.13, and is experimental in all other versions. Experimental images are not qualified for production use and not eligible for support or uptime SLA commitments.

1. Install Docker for Linux. Please carefully check that you meet all prerequisites.

2. Confirm that the Docker daemon is running in the background:

   $ docker version

   If you do not see the server listed, start the Docker daemon.

   Note:

   On Linux, Docker needs sudo privileges.

3. Pull the image for the v24.2.3 release of CockroachDB from Docker Hub:

   $ sudo docker pull cockroachdb/cockroach:v24.2.3

4. Keep up-to-date with CockroachDB releases and best practices:

   Thanks!

Build from Source

See the public wiki for guidance. When building on the ARM architecture, refer to Limitations.