To install Boost.Build from an official release or a nightly build, as available on the official web site, follow these steps: Unpack the release. On the command line, go to the root of the unpacked tree. Run either .\bootstrap.bat (on Windows), or ./bootstrap.sh (on other operating systems). Run ./b2 install --prefix=PREFIX where PREFIX is a directory where you want Boost.Build to be installed. Optionally, add PREFIX/bin to your PATH environment variable. If you are not using a Boost.Build package, but rather the version bundled with the Boost C++ Libraries, the above commands should be run in the tools/build directory. Now that Boost.Build is installed, you can try some of the examples. Copy PREFIX/share/boost-build/examples/hello to a different directory, then change to that directory and run: PREFIX/bin/b2 A simple executable should be built.