Building from source

How to build dnscrypt-proxy

1. Build tools and starting up

Windows: Install git and go. Or use chocolatey:

choco install git golang

Now open a PowerShell window (Win+X > Windows PowerShell).

Linux: Open a terminal window, install git and go:

<pkg-install-command> git golang

Android: Install Termux and start it. Then install git and go:

pkg install git golang

2. Create your working directory

mkdir dnscrypt-proxy-src
cd dnscrypt-proxy-src

3. Clone this repo

It must be cloned into a folder called src.

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/DNSCrypt/dnscrypt-proxy src

4. Set environment variables

GOOS and GOARCH don't need to be set if you're only building for your current OS install; they are already set to the right values (see go env GOOS GOARCH). Otherwise, run go tool dist list to list supported GOOS/GOARCH pairs. You may also want to set GOARM when using GOARCH=arm; see the GoArm wiki.

# Windows
$env:GOOS='windows'
$env:GOARCH='amd64'

# Linux
export GOOS=linux
export GOARCH=amd64

# Android
export GOOS=android
export GOARCH=arm64

5. Build dnscrypt-proxy

Change the output path as appropriate for your OS/arch.

cd src/dnscrypt-proxy

go build -ldflags="-s -w" -mod vendor

The binary should be in the current directory.

go: ../go.mod requires go >= ...

If the build command returns an error similar to go: ../go.mod requires go >= ..., it means your Go toolchain is older than the version dnscrypt-proxy was developed and tested with.

dnscrypt-proxy generally uses the latest stable Go version as it is released.

You can download a more recent version of Go from the official Go website. The downloaded files can be installed anywhere and can be removed afterwards.

Alternatively, you can use goenv, a convenient tool for installing (even temporarily) multiple versions of Go.

Building for Android

• Building on a non-Android OS: You cannot build the Android version without following this guide first.
• Building on Android: You cannot build for an Android architecture different from your device's, nor can you build for Linux/any architecture. Windows with any architecture seems to work, however.

You will need root to use dnscrypt-proxy. Otherwise, you can try copying it to internal storage.