Now that your machine is ready for your Squid install, you need to download and install the Squid program. This can be done in two ways: you can download a source version and compile it, or you can download a precompiled binary version and install that, relying on someone else to do the compilation for you.
Binary versions of Squid are generally easier to install than source code versions, specifically if your operating system vendor distributes a package which you can simply install.
Installing Squid from source code is recommended. This method allows you to turn on compile-time options that may not be included in distributed binary versions (one of many examples: SNMP support is not included into the source at compile time unless it is specifically included, and most binary versions available do not include snmp support). If your operating system has been optimized so that Squid can run better (let's say you have increased the number of open filehandles per process) a precompiled binary will not take advantage of this tuning, since your compiler header files are probably different to the ones where the binaries where compiled.
It's also a little worrying running binaries that other people distribute (unless, of course, they are officially supplied by your operating system vendor): what if they have placed a trojan into the binary version? To ensure the security of your system it is recommended that you compile from the official source tree.
Since we suggest installing from source code first, we cover that first: if you have to download a Squid binary from somewhere, simply skip to the next sub-section: Getting a binary version of Squid.
Squid source is mirrored by numerous sites. For a list of mirrors, have a look at
Deciding which of the available files to download can become an issue, especially if you are not familiar with the Squid version naming convention. Squid is (as of this writing) in version 2. As features are added, the minor version number is incremented (Squid 2.0 becomes Squid 2.1, then Squid 2.2 etc etc). Since new features may introduce new bugs, the first version including new features is distributed as a pre-release (or beta) version. The first pre-release of Squid 1.2 is called squid-2.1.PRE1-src.tar.gz. The second is squid-2.1.PRE2-src.tar.gz. Once Squid is considered stable, a general release version is distributed: the first release version is called squid-2.0.RELEASE-src.tar.gz, the second (which would include minor bugfixes) squid-2.0.RELEASE2-src.tar.gz.
In short, files are named as follows: squid-2.minor-version-number.stability-info.release-number.tar.gz. Unless you are a Squid developer, you should download the last available RELEASE version: you are less likely to encounter bugs this way.
Squid source is normally available via FTP (the File Transfer Protocol), so you should be able to download Squid source by using the ftp program, available on almost every Unix system. If you are not familiar with ftp, you can simply select the mirror closest to you with your browser and save the Squid source to your disk by right-clicking on the filename and selecting save as (do not simply click on the filename - many browsers attempt to extract compressed files, printing the tar file to your browser window: this is definitely not what you want!). Once the download is complete, transfer the file to the cache machine.
Finding binary versions of Squid to install is easy: deciding which binary to trust is more difficult. If you do not choose carefully, someone could undermine your system security. If you cannot compile Squid, but know (and trust) someone that can do it for you, get them to help. It's better than downloading a version contributed by someone that you don't know.
The worst places to download precompiled packages from are sites that accept contributions from the public at large: avoid files in paths like incoming or uploads, since the source of the file is unknown.
Mailing lists are often good places to find compiled Software (though people become irritated if you do not actually make a concerted effort to find a trusted version before bothering the list). Regular contributors to mailing lists have a reputation at stake, and are likely to provide binary versions of software that actually match the official source.
Binaries compiled by people the core Squid developers (www.ircache.net) know and trust are available at ftp://squid.nlanr.net/pub/contrib/binaries/. You may be able to find a Squid binary for your operating system here.
Files can be distributed in many different ways. Generally Squid is tranformed into a package that can be installed with some package tool. There are many competing package managers, so there is no way of covering them all here.