Chapter 1: Setup

Before we start programming, let's get Sigil installed and verify everything works.

Try It First

Before installing anything, you can try Sigil in your browser and follow along with the first few chapters.

System Requirements

Sigil supports Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD.

Installing Sigil

Step 1: Download

Download the latest release for your platform from Codeberg releases:

# Linux (x86_64)
curl -LO https://codeberg.org/sigil/sigil/releases/download/latest/sigil-linux-amd64

# Make it executable
chmod +x sigil-linux-amd64

Step 2: Try It Out

Before installing, verify it works:

./sigil-linux-amd64 eval '(+ 1 2 3)'

You should see:

Step 3: Install

Install Sigil to ~/.sigil:

./sigil-linux-amd64 cli install

This creates a managed installation with version switching support.

Step 4: Configure Your Shell

Add Sigil to your PATH by adding this line to your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or ~/.profile):

eval "$(~/.sigil/bin/sigil cli env)"

Then restart your shell or source your profile:

source ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

Step 5: Verify

sigil eval '(display "Hello, Sigil!")'

You can now delete the downloaded binary - Sigil is installed at ~/.sigil/bin/sigil.

Upgrading

To check for and download new versions:

sigil cli upgrade

This downloads the latest release. To switch to it:

sigil cli use 0.2.0

Editor Setup

Sigil files use the .sgl extension. Most editors with Scheme or Lisp support work well:

Emacs: Use scheme-mode or geiser
VS Code: Install a Scheme extension
Vim: Lisp-related plugins work well

Key features to look for:

Automatic indentation
Parenthesis matching/highlighting
Rainbow parentheses (colors nested parens differently)

Project Directory

Create a directory for your tutorial work:

mkdir ~/sigil-tutorial
cd ~/sigil-tutorial

We'll put all our code here.

What's Next

With Sigil installed and ready, let's explore the REPL - the interactive environment where we'll spend most of our time learning.

Next: The REPL ->