# Switching a from-source install to OTP releases
+## What are OTP releases?
+OTP releases are as close as you can get to binary releases with Erlang/Elixir. The release is self-contained, and provides everything needed to boot it, it is easily administered via the provided shell script to open up a remote console, start/stop/restart the release, start in the background, send remote commands, and more.
+### Can I still run the develop branch if I decide to use them?
+Yes, we produce builds for every commit in `develop`. However `develop` is considered unstable, please don't use it in production because of faster access to new features, unless you need them as an app developer.
## Why would one want to switch?
Benefits of OTP releases over from-source installs include:
* **Less space used.** OTP releases come without source code, build tools, have docs and debug symbols stripped from the compiled bytecode and do not cointain tests, docs, revision history.
$EDITOR /etc/pleroma/config.exs
```
## Installing the release
+Before proceeding, get the flavour from [Detecting flavour](otp_en.html#detecting-flavour) section in OTP installation guide.
```sh
# Delete all files in pleroma user's directory
rm -r ~pleroma/*
+# Set the flavour environment variable to the string you got in Detecting flavour section.
+# For example if the flavour is `arm64-musl` the command will be
+export FLAVOUR="arm64-musl"
+
# Clone the release build into a temporary directory and unpack it
+# Replace `master` with `develop` if you want to run the develop branch
su pleroma -s $SHELL -lc "
curl 'https://git.pleroma.social/api/v4/projects/2/jobs/artifacts/master/download?job=$FLAVOUR' -o /tmp/pleroma.zip
unzip /tmp/pleroma.zip -d /tmp/
projects / akkoma / blobdiff