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# Introduction
Ion is a modern system shell that features a simple, yet powerful, syntax. It is written entirely
in Rust, which greatly increases the overall quality and security of the shell. It also offers a
level of performance that exceeds that of Dash, when taking advantage of Ion's features. While it
is developed alongside, and primarily for, RedoxOS, it is a fully capable on other \*nix platforms.
[](./LICENSE)
[](https://crates.io/crates/ion-shell)
> Ion is still a WIP, and both its syntax and rules are subject to change over time. It is
> still quite a ways from becoming stabilized, but we are getting very close. Changes to the
> syntax at this time are likely to be minimal.
# Ion Specification
Ion has a RFC process for language proposals. Ion's formal specification is located within the
[rfcs](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/ion/tree/rfcs) branch. The RFC process is still in
the early stages of development, so much of the current and future implementation ideas have
yet to be written into the specification.
The Ion manual is generated automatically on each commit via [mdBook](https://github.com/azerupi/mdBook).
The manual is located [here](https://doc.redox-os.org/ion-manual/) on Redox OS's website. It is
also included in the source code for Ion, within the **manual** directory, which you may build
with **mdbook**.
# Packages
## Pop!\_OS / Ubuntu
The following PPA supports the 18.04 (bionic) and 18.10 (cosmic) releases. Bionic builds were made using the Pop\_OS PPA's rustc 1.30.0 package.
```
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mmstick76/ion-shell
```
Those who are developing software with Rust should install the [Rustup toolchain manager](https://rustup.rs/).
After installing rustup, run `rustup default 1.30.0` to set your Rust toolchain to the version that Ion is
targeting at the moment. To build for Redox OS, `rustup default nightly` is required to build the Redox
dependencies.
> Distribution packagers must ensure that their distribution has packaged both cargo and rustc 1.30.0.
> Distribution packagers should also currently build Ion from git. Release tarballs have not been made yet
> due to the shell being incomplete in a few remaining areas.
cd ion
make
sudo make install prefix=/usr
sudo make update-shells prefix=/usr
> To compile in DEBUG mode, pass `DEBUG=1` as an argument to `make`
# Vim/NeoVim Syntax Highlighting Plugin
We do have an [officially-supported syntax highlighting plugin](https://gitlab.redox-os.org/redox-os/ion-vim) for all the
vim/nvim users out there.
```vimscript
Plugin 'vmchale/ion-vim'
```
