Install FreeBASIC on Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit) Trixie

Claude 3.5 Haiku & I created & tested this procedure & web page on January 17th~18th, 2026. We think it will allow you to install & use FreeBASIC on your Raspberry OS (64-bit) Trixie. Be careful & understand what you're about to do before you do it because neither Claude nor I are responsible for anything that happens to your data or machine as a result of using this web page.

Install the libraries needed to compile FreeBASIC

cd
sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential wget tar git \
    libncurses6-dev libffi-dev libgl1-mesa-dev \
    libx11-dev libxext-dev libxrender-dev \
    libxrandr-dev libxpm-dev libgpm-dev

FreeBASIC needs libtinfo.so.5, so -- if it's not there -- create a symlink:

cd /usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu
ls -l libtinfo.so.5
If libtinfo.so.5 doesn't already exist, use the sudo ln -s command below to create a symlink.
sudo ln -s libtinfo.so.6 libtinfo.so.5

Install these libraries if you plan to write FreeBASIC graphic programs:

cd
sudo apt install \
    libgtk-3-dev \
    libpango1.0-dev \
    libcairo2-dev \
    libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-dev \
    libatk1.0-dev

If you don't already have a working FreeBASIC compiler, download & install this 2016 one

cd
wget https://users.freebasic-portal.de/stw/builds/_manual/fbc_arm64_linux-2016-03-07.tgz
tar -xvzf fbc_arm64_linux-2016-03-07.tgz
cd ~/fbc_arm64_linux
chmod u+x ./install.sh
sudo ./install.sh -i

Download & build FreeBASIC

cd
git clone https://github.com/freebasic/fbc.git
cd fbc
make -j4

If you installed the 2016 FreeBASIC compiler, now is the time to uninstall it.

cd ~/fbc_arm64_linux
sudo ./install.sh -u

Install the just-built FreeBASIC

cd ~/fbc
sudo make install

Optional: Clean up the 2016 FreeBASIC compiler's files

cd
rm -rf fbc_arm64_linux fbc_arm64_linux-2016-03-07.tgz

Troubleshooting

If you need additional libraries, use pkg-config to identify precise package names:

pkg-config --libs gtk+-3.0

Additional Notes

• Confirmed working on Raspberry Pi OS Trixie on Raspberry Pi 4B aarch64 Architecture
• Compiler version compatibility may vary

Credits

Documentation and Guidance: Claude 3.5 Haiku AI Assistant
Original Problem Solving: Collaborative debugging process