How to download, compile, and install CMake on Linux

Category:

Tutorials > Operating Systems > Linux > Installation

CMake is a cross-platform, open-source build system. CMake is a family of tools designed to build, test and package software.

Here are the simple steps to download, configure, compile, and install CMake on a Linux machine. I have tested these instructions on Debian/Ubuntu Linux distributions but they should work on all Linux machines where compilers and make utilities are installed. Please take a look at configuring Ubuntu Linux after installation to configure your Debian/Ubuntu Linux box for the required tools.

Please make sure you check the downloaded file's integrity before unzipping it. '#' (w/o quotes) in front of commands below means you have to run the command as root user (or use sudo instead if your system supports that).

Download:

$ wget http://www.cmake.org/files/v2.8/cmake-2.8.3.tar.gz

Extration of cmake source code from downloaded file:

$ tar xzf cmake-2.8.3.tar.gz
$ cd cmake-2.8.3

Configuration:

If you want to see the available conifuration options, run command below.

$ ./configure --help

In order to configure cmake before installation, run command below.

$ ./configure --prefix=/opt/cmake

We basically instructed the install script to install CMake in /opt/cmake.

Compilation:

$ make

Installation:

# make install

Verification:

After installation without any errors you can verify the installation by running the command below:

$ /opt/cmake/bin/cmake -version

The output should look something like below (depending upon cmake version you are installing).

cmake version 2.8.3

Please feel free to use the comments form below if you have any questions or need more explanation on anything. Use the icons below to share this tutorial with your friends.

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Comments (write a comment):

Hey,
Thanks for this guide man.
It really helped my out as I am new on Ubuntu platform.

Keep helping others as well.

Regards,
Sunny Posted by: Sunny on May 12, 2011

when i got to the part with
./configure --prefix=/opt/cmake
it just says "command not found"
i even tried . configure...
and it still says the same thing. what a i doing wrong? Posted by: james on Dec 08, 2011

please make sure you cd into the cmake folder first before running the ./configure command. Posted by: shahryar ghazi on Dec 12, 2011

just awesome... Posted by: lalit on Dec 22, 2011

when i did /opt/cmake/bin/cmake -version
i get following message

bash: /opt/cmake/bin/cmake: No such file or directory Posted by: atraya on Dec 24, 2011

@atraya:that means cmake was not installed properly at that location ... are you sure you followed the instructions and did not see any error messages at the end of configure and make commands? Posted by: shahryar on Dec 25, 2011

Morning,

When i run the instruction : make install,
the result is :

CMake Error at cmake_install.cmake:36 (FILE):
file cannot create directory: /opt/cmake/doc/cmake-2.8. Maybe need
administrative privileges.

So, I can't to run - verification...

What's the meaning of messaege ? and what can I do to continue...

Thanks Posted by: mohammad on Jan 17, 2012

try running the command as root or sudo or use some other directory that is writeable by your username as the target directory.

In order to select a different target directory, you will have to restart from configure command and mention the writeable new target directory as the value for --prefix option of configure. Posted by: shahryar ghazi on Feb 01, 2012

@atraya try using :
cd bin
./cmake -version
./ is used for executable files
it should show the output :
cmake version 2.8.3 Posted by: Muqaddas Jamil on Mar 16, 2012

Yup it worked for me.
Thank you, it is very useful. I used it on RHEL 3. Posted by: Deepti on May 11, 2012

thanks man. I really need it. it was helpful Posted by: hojat on Oct 26, 2012

Thanks a lot! Posted by: ggd on Jan 02, 2013

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