# Calamares: Distribution-Independent Installer Framework --------- [](https://github.com/calamares/calamares/releases) [](https://travis-ci.org/calamares/calamares) [](https://scan.coverity.com/projects/5389) [](https://github.com/calamares/calamares/blob/calamares/LICENSE) | [Report a Bug](https://github.com/calamares/calamares/issues/new) | [Translate](https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/calamares/) | [Contribute](CONTRIBUTING.md) | [Freenode (IRC): #calamares](https://webchat.freenode.net/?channel=#calamares?nick=guest|) | [Wiki](https://github.com/calamares/calamares/wiki) | |:-----------------------------------------:|:----------------------:|:-----------------------:|:--------------------------:|:--------------------------:| > Calamares is a distribution-independent system installer, with an advanced partitioning > feature for both manual and automated partitioning operations. Calamares is designed to > be customizable by distribution maintainers without need for cumbersome patching, > thanks to third party branding and external modules support. ## Target Audience Calamares is a Linux installer; users who install Linux on a computer will hopefully use it just **once**, to install their Linux distribution. Calamares is not a "ready to use" application: distributions apply a huge amount of customisation and configuration to Calamares, and the target audience for this repository is those distributions, and the people who make those Linux distro's. Calamares has some [generic user documentation](https://github.com/calamares/calamares/wiki/Use-Guide) for end-users, but most of what we have is for distro developers. ## Getting Calamares Clone Calamares from GitHub. The default branch is called *calamares*. ``` git clone https://github.com/calamares/calamares.git ``` Calamares is a KDE-Frameworks and Qt-based, C++14, CMake-built application. The dependencies are explainged in [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md). ## Contributing to Calamares Calamares welcomes PRs. New issues are welcome, too. There are both the Calamares **core** repository (this one), and an *extensions** repository ([Calamares extensions](https://github.com/calamares/calamares-extensions). Contributions to code, modules, documentation, the wiki and the website are all welcome. There is more information in the [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) file. ## Join the Conversation GitHub Issues are **one** place for discussing Calamares if there are concrete problems or a new feature to discuss. Regular Calamares development chit-chat happens on old-school IRC (no registration required). Responsiveness is best during the day in Europe, but feel free to idle. [](https://webchat.freenode.net/?channel=#calamares?nick=guest|)