Compiling from the source code

Like every other open source utility, the GNU AWK source code is freely available for download as part of the GNU project. Previously, you saw how to install AWK using the package manager; now, you will see how to install AWK by compiling from its source code on the GNU/Linux distribution. The following steps are applicable to most of the GNU/Linux software for installation:

1. Download the source code from a GNU project ftp site. Here, we will use the wget command line utility to download it, however you are free to choose any other program, such as curl, you feel comfortable with:

[ shiwang@linux ~ ] $ wget http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gawk/gawk-4.1.3.tar.xz

2. Extract the downloaded source code:

[ shiwang@linux ~ ] $ tar xvf gawk-4.1.3.tar.xz

3. Change your working directory and execute the configure file to configure the GAWK as per the working environment of your system:

[ shiwang@linux ~ ] $ cd gawk-4.1.3  &&  ./configure

4. Once the configure command completes its execution successfully, it will generate the make file. Now, compile the source code by executing the make command:

[ shiwang@linux ~ ] $ make

5. Type make install to install the programs and any data files and documentation. When installing into a prefix owned by root, it is recommended that the package be configured and built as a regular user, and only the make install phase is executed with root privileges:

[ shiwang@linux ~ ] $ sudo make install

6. Upon successful execution of these five steps, you have compiled and installed AWK on your GNU/Linux distribution. You can verify this by executing the which awk command in the Terminal or awk --version:

[ root@linux ~ ] # which awk
/usr/bin/awk

Now you have a working AWK/GAWK installation and we are ready to begin AWK programming, but before that, our next section describes the workflow of the AWK interpreter.