For what is new in this version see the development notes.
There is currently a patch release available. For more information see the patch release information page.
Source

Documentation

Binaries
Note 1: Before downloading a binary version make sure your machine contains the right run-time environment. In most cases it is not possible to run a version compiled with, e.g., gcc4.0 on a platform where only gcc 3.2 is installed. In such cases you'll have to install ROOT from source. See the configurations used to build the binaries below.
To install, unzip and untar the file. For example:
$ gunzip root_v5.12.00.Linux.slc3.gcc3.2.3.tar.gz $ tar xvf root_v5.12.00.Linux.slc3.gcc3.2.3.tar
This will create the directory root. Before getting started read the file README/README. Remember, you can find the full documentation of the ROOT classes on this web site at the location Classes and Members. The distribution also contains all tutorials and a set of test programs.


When running from the MSDOS prompt, you must set the following environment variables, eg in your autoexec.bat: (Restart the system if you set these variables for the first time).
set TEMP=c:\temp set HOME=c:\your top directory set TMPDIR=c:\temp set ROOTSYS=c:\root (the directory where you installed Root) set PATH=%PATH%;%ROOTSYS%\bin
The win32 versions have been compiled under VisualC++ 7.1. These versions may not run correctly under Windows95 or Windows98 (we do not support these obsolete versions anymore). To use these files with the old VisualC++ 6, you may have to download the following DLLs and store them in a directory accessible in your PATH: You may also need the MSVCR71.DLL file if you have VC++8.
Procedure to install the FREE Microsoft VisualC++ The files described
above have been compiled with the commercial version of VC++7.1 under Windows/XP
Professional. Installing ROOT with the FREE version of VisualC++ has also been
tested by Bertrand Bellenot. See Bertrand's instructions to install
this FREE version.
See also Nick van Eijndhoven ROOT kit for
Windows.
Some old Windows systems may also require: