# Installing from source procedure does not point to latest stable release

**URL:** <https://openmc.discourse.group/t/installing-from-source-procedure-does-not-point-to-latest-stable-release/6509>\
**Category:** User Support\
**Created:** [October 23, 2026, 8:33am UTC](https://openmc.discourse.group/t/installing-from-source-procedure-does-not-point-to-latest-stable-release/6509 "2026-10-23T08:33:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![valerio69](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/openmc.discourse.group/valerio69/32/1192_2.png) [@valerio69](https://openmc.discourse.group/u/valerio69)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 8:33am UTC](https://openmc.discourse.group/t/installing-from-source-procedure-does-not-point-to-latest-stable-release/6509/1 "2026-10-23T08:33:55Z")

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Hi all,  
I’m updating OpenMC to the latest stable release `0.16.0` as I’ve always done it, i.e., installing from source.  
However, after running `git checkout master`, the process seems to point back to version `0.15.3`. In fact, running `cmake ..`, I see:

> -- OpenMC version: 0.15.3  
> -- OpenMC dev state: false  
> -- OpenMC commit hash: 27e38e894697bb32a1dac7848d2618818b6b8daf  
> …

After compilation is finished, running `openmc --version` inside the `bin` folder, I get:

> OpenMC version 0.15.3  
> Commit hash: 27e38e894697bb32a1dac7848d2618818b6b8daf  
> Copyright (c) 2011-2025 MIT, UChicago Argonne LLC, and contributors  
> …

On the other hand, if I skip executing `git checkout master`, with `cmake ..` I see:

> -- OpenMC version: 0.16.1  
> -- OpenMC dev state: true  
> -- OpenMC commit hash: c6301133b5c5fe02c71048a223cacb3376851d82  
> …

Running now `openmc --version` inside the `bin` folder, I get:

> OpenMC version 0.16.1-dev65  
> Commit hash: 7cb87e78e622e5b940bcb7fd5b0016ad88af029a  
> Copyright (c) 2011-2026 MIT, UChicago Argonne LLC, and contributors  
> …

Am I doing something wrong? Thanks.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shadok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@Shadok](https://openmc.discourse.group/u/Shadok)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://openmc.discourse.group/t/installing-from-source-procedure-does-not-point-to-latest-stable-release/6509/2 "2026-10-29T12:29:32Z")

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Maybe “master” is pointing to the wrong version for some reason? You could try cloning the specific version you want to compile as described in this post:

> [@Error when building from source, release archive 0.15.3 (missing files in archive)](https://openmc.discourse.group/t/error-when-building-from-source-release-archive-0-15-3-missing-files-in-archive/6423/3):
>
> OpenMC uses git [submodules](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules) to provide several C++ dependencies. Unfortunately one of the side effects is that source archives do not include these submodules. In your case, since you have git I would recommend just cloning the specific tag of the most recent release: git clone --branch v0.15.3 https://github.com/openmc-dev/openmc