TL;DR for "Install development version on Linux"

With bash.

Building is done using cmake, and it uses ninja-build to compute dependencies and build.

• CMAKE must have been installed (on Fedora: dnf install cmake)
• ninja-build must have been installed (on Fedora: dnf install ninja-build)

Suppose we want to install SWIPL into this directory:

/usr/local/logic/swipl

You can choose any other installation location.

Even one in your home directory (in that case, stay non-root throughout)

As root:

install_under=/usr/local/logic/
mkdir -p "$install_under"
if [[ -d "${install_under}/swipl" ]]; then
   # move existing out of the way!
   mv "${install_under}/swipl" "${install_under}/swipl_$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"
fi

As non-root, in your home directory

install_under=/usr/local/logic/
cd ~
mkdir COMPILE; cd COMPILE
# - - - - - main download - - - - - - -
git clone https://github.com/SWI-Prolog/swipl-devel.git
# - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
cd swipl-devel
# - - - - - download of modules - - - -
git submodule update --init
# - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

# Read CMAKE.md for more info

# you are now inside "swipl-devel"

mkdir build
cd build/
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="${install_under}/swipl" -G Ninja ..

By default the system configures all features. In particular, GMP, ODBC, JPL, graphics.

Soon:

Build files have been written to: /home/myuser/COMPILE/swipl-devel/build

Then:

ninja       # Compile it! A lot of energy comes out of the CPU as waste heat.
ctest -j 4  # Run tests concurrently 4-fold. See "man ctest" or "ctest --help"

Then, install as root:

su  # become root
# you are still inside "swipl-devel/build"
ninja install

To make sure SWI-Prolog is found on-PATH, add the following script as "logic.sh" to /etc/profile.d/ :

#!/bin/bash

function extendPath_OhhDOV8fXj {
   local SWIPL="/usr/local/logic/swipl"
   local BIN="${SWIPL}/bin"
   if [[ -d "${BIN}" ]]; then
      export PATH="${BIN}:${PATH}"
      export SWIPL_HOME="$SWIPL"
   fi
}

extendPath_OhhDOV8fXj
unset extendPath_OhhDOV8fXj

Drop root privileges. As non-root:

exec bash          # reloads PATH
swipl              # run it

Welcome to SWI-Prolog (threaded, 64 bits, version 8.1.32-10-g1885b056f)