Download and Install

Download the C driver

The C driver consists of two libraries: libbson and libmongoc. In this guide, you will learn how to install libmongoc, which comes bundled with libbson.

You can install the C driver by using a package manager, or by installing the libraries from source. Different Linux distributions install different versions of the driver when installed with a package manager. Because of this, you should check the version your distribution includes before installing the driver.

On RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) distributions, you can check the version by running the following command in your shell:

sudo dnf info mongo-c-driver-devel

On Debian-based distributions, you can check the version by running the following command in your shell:

apt-cache policy libmongoc-dev

If the version of the driver that is available is not the version you want, you can install the driver from source. To learn how to install the driver from source, see the Building the C Driver Libraries from Source guide.

To learn how to install the driver by using a package manager, select the tab corresponding to your operating system:

RedHat Enterprise Linux Distributions

You can install the driver on RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) distributions, version 7 or later, or distributions based on RHEL, such as:

Before you install the driver on a RHEL distribution, not including Fedora, you must first enable the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository. You can enable the EPEL repository by installing the epel-release package, as shown in the following example:

yum install epel-release

Then, you can install the C driver by using yum. To do so, run the following command in your shell:

yum install mongo-c-driver-devel

Note

Developer Packages

The preceding code example installs the developer packages, which are required to build applications that use the C driver. To install only the libraries, without development files, run the following command:

yum install mongo-c-driver

If you are installing on a RHEL distribution that is version 8 or later, we recommend running the preceding code examples by using dnf instead of yum.

Fedora

If you are using Fedora or an enterprise Linux distribution of version 8 or later, you can install the driver by using the same commands as shown in the preceding example and replacing yum with dnf.

The following example shows how to install the C driver in a Fedora distribution:

dnf install mongo-c-driver-devel

Debian-Based Distributions

In Debian-Based Linux distributions, including Ubuntu and Ubuntu derivatives, the driver libraries are available through the Advanced Packaging Tool (APT). You can install the driver with APT by running the following command in your shell:

apt install libmongoc-dev

apt install libmongoc-1.0-0

For Windows environments, we recommend building the C driver libraries from source to ensure maximum compatibility with the local toolchain. You can automate building from source by using a from-source library package management tool, such as vcpkg.

Tip

To learn how to get started with vcpkg, see the vcpkg Get Started guide in the Microsoft documentation.

In vcpkg manifest mode, add the driver library to your project's vcpkg.json manifest file, as shown in the following example:

{
   // ...
   "dependencies": [
     // ...
     "mongo-c-driver"
   ]
}

When you build a CMake project with vcpkg integration and have a vcpkg.json manifest file, vcpkg automatically installs the project's dependencies before proceeding with configuration.

If you are using vcpkg classic mode, you can install the driver by running the following command in your shell:

vcpkg install mongo-c-driver

After you install the driver, the standard CMake configuration file is available, as well as the generated IMPORTED targets. You can create a CMakeLists.txt file as shown in the following example:

find_package(mongoc-1.0 CONFIG REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(my-application
    PRIVATE $<IF:$<TARGET_EXISTS:mongo::mongoc_shared>,mongo::mongoc_shared,mongo::mongoc_static>)

Note

You can use the $<IF:$<TARGET_EXISTS...>:...> generator expression in the preceding example to switch the link type of libmongoc based on the form that is available from the find_package() command. libmongoc supports building with both dynamic and static library types, but vcpkg installs only one type at a time.

To configure the CMake project with vcpkg integration, set the CMake toolchain file in the configuration command by running the following commands in your shell:

cmake -S . -B _build -D
CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake

You can download the C driver on MacOS by using the Homebrew package manager. To do so, run the following command in your shell:

brew install mongo-c-driver

After you complete these steps, you have the C driver installed on your machine.

Note

If you run into issues on this step, ask for help in the MongoDB Community Forums or submit feedback by using the Rate this page tab on the right or bottom right side of this page.

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