4.2 Install Omnivox From A Release Binary ¶

Use this route for GNU/Linux x86-64 with an Ubuntu 24.04-compatible runtime, macOS on Apple silicon, or macOS on Intel. The Omnivox 1.4.1 release provides these archive names:

Run uname -m if the Mac architecture is uncertain: arm64 identifies Apple silicon and x86_64 identifies Intel. Create a download directory, select the matching platform value, and fetch both the archive and published checksum file:

mkdir -p "$HOME/Downloads/omnivox-1.4.1"
cd "$HOME/Downloads/omnivox-1.4.1"
omnivox_version=1.4.1
platform=linux-x64
archive="omnivox-${omnivox_version}-${platform}.tar.gz"
release_url="https://github.com/bartbunting/omnivox/releases/download/v${omnivox_version}"
curl -fLO "$release_url/$archive"
curl -fLO "$release_url/sha256sums.txt"

Replace linux-x64 with the matching macOS value from the table. Verify the selected archive before extracting it. On GNU/Linux, run:

grep "  $archive$" sha256sums.txt | sha256sum --check -

On macOS, use its installed shasum command instead:

grep "  $archive$" sha256sums.txt | shasum -a 256 --check

The command must name the archive and report OK. If it does not, remove the download and do not run it. Extract the verified payload into a versioned directory and keep every supplied directory beside the executable:

install_dir="$HOME/.local/opt/omnivox-${omnivox_version}"
mkdir -p "$install_dir"
tar -xzf "$archive" -C "$install_dir"
chmod 755 "$install_dir/omnivox"
export PATH="$install_dir:$PATH"

Add the same PATH entry to the shell startup file used to launch Emacs so it remains available in later sessions. The extracted directory contains omnivox, espeak-ng-data, third-party-licenses, and omnivox-voices.el. Emacsvox uses its own bundled Lisp adapter, so do not load or copy the release’s omnivox-voices.el into Emacsvox.

Now prove the installed binary before starting Emacsvox:

omnivox --version
omnivox --check
omnivox --list-voices

The version must report 1.4.1, and the check must produce both its tone and spoken confirmation. The macOS archives are not code-signed or notarized; if local security policy refuses the verified binary, use the source route below rather than weakening that policy. On GNU/Linux, a missing runtime library or incompatible glibc also means that the source route is the appropriate path.

For Emacs running under WSL2, continue to Install An Omnivox Windows Release Under WSL2. That route uses the verified Windows archive without requiring a compiler or Docker.