Install Radare2 GitHub Action

Composite GitHub Action to install radare2 in CI workflows. Supports Linux, macOS and Windows runners, with options to install from release packages or build from git source.

Usage

Reference the action from your workflow:

- uses: radareorg/github-actions@v3

Inputs

Input	Description	Default
version	Radare2 version to install (e.g., 6.1.2). Empty for latest.	"" (latest)
from-git	Build from git source instead of release packages.	false
prefix	Installation prefix. Release packages install to the platform default; a custom prefix requires from-git.	/usr on Linux, /usr/local on macOS, RUNNER_TEMP/radare2 on Windows

Outputs

Output	Description
version	Installed radare2 version
prefix	Installation prefix path

Examples

Install latest release

steps:
  - uses: radareorg/github-actions@v3

Install a specific version

steps:
  - uses: radareorg/github-actions@v3
    with:
      version: '6.1.2'

Build latest git from source

steps:
  - uses: radareorg/github-actions@v3
    with:
      from-git: true

Build a specific version from source

steps:
  - uses: radareorg/github-actions@v3
    with:
      version: '6.1.2'
      from-git: true

Custom install prefix

steps:
  - uses: radareorg/github-actions@v3
    with:
      from-git: true
      prefix: '/opt/radare2'

Build from git on Windows

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v7
  - uses: TheMrMilchmann/setup-msvc-dev@v4
    with:
      arch: x64
  - uses: radareorg/github-actions@v3
    with:
      from-git: true

Multi-platform CI with build matrix

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: ['**']
  pull_request:

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  build:
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        os: [ubuntu-24.04, macos-latest, windows-latest]
        build_system: [make, meson]
        exclude:
          - os: windows-latest
            build_system: make
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
      - uses: radareorg/github-actions@v3
        id: r2
      - name: Build with Make
        if: matrix.build_system == 'make'
        run: make
      - name: Setup Meson
        if: matrix.build_system == 'meson'
        run: pip install meson ninja --break-system-packages
      - name: Build with Meson
        if: matrix.build_system == 'meson'
        run: |
          meson setup build
          meson compile -C build

Using outputs

steps:
  - uses: radareorg/github-actions@v3
    id: r2
  - run: echo "Installed r2 ${{ steps.r2.outputs.version }} at ${{ steps.r2.outputs.prefix }}"

How it works

The operating system is auto-detected from the runner:

• Linux - Downloads and installs .deb packages (radare2 + radare2-dev) under /usr. Architecture is detected via dpkg --print-architecture.
• macOS - Downloads and installs .pkg package under /usr/local. Detects arm64 vs x86_64 automatically.
• Windows - Downloads and extracts the .zip release using PowerShell, handles nested subdirectories automatically, then adds bin/ to PATH.

When from-git is true, the action clones the radare2 repository and builds from source using sys/install.sh on Unix or meson/ninja on Windows.

Notes

• Windows git builds use meson/ninja and require a Visual C++ environment. Add TheMrMilchmann/setup-msvc-dev@v4 with arch: x64 before this action if building from source on Windows.
• Both radare2 and radare2-dev packages are installed on Linux so headers and pkg-config files are available for building plugins.
• The action verifies the installation by running radare2 -v at the end.
• Use concurrency with cancel-in-progress: true to avoid wasting CI minutes on superseded pushes.
• Use fail-fast: false in matrix builds so a failure on one platform doesn't cancel the others.