How To Install CMake on CentOS 8

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install CMake on CentOS 8. For those of you who didn’t know, CMake is a powerful, open-source build system that is widely used in software development for managing the build process in a compiler-independent manner. It simplifies the process of building, testing, and packaging software. Installing CMake on CentOS 8 can be straightforward if you follow the right steps.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of CMake on a CentOS 8 server.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: CentOS 8 or RHEL-based such as AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• A network connection or internet access to download the CMake package.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install CMake on CentOS 8

Step 1. Keeping your system updated is crucial for security and stability. Begin by cleaning the package cache and updating the system packages.

sudo dnf clean all
sudo dnf update

This ensures that all installed packages are up-to-date and any security patches are applied.

Step 2. Installing Dependencies.

CMake requires several dependencies to function correctly. Install the necessary packages using the following command:

sudo dnf install gcc make ncurses-devel zlib-devel curl-devel

Step 3. Installing CMake on CentOS 8.

• Install the Latest Version of CMake from Source.

Now we download the latest version of CMake from GitHub:

wget https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v3.29.6/cmake-3.29.6-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar -zxvf cmake-3.29.6-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
cd cmake-3.29.6-linux-x86_64

Compile from source and install:

./bootstrap
make
sudo make install

Now confirm the installation and check the CMake version by typing the following command:

cmake --version

• Install the Latest Version of CMake using Snap.

sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install snapd
sudo systemctl enable --now snapd.socket
sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap

sudo snap install cmake --classic

Congratulations! You have successfully installed CMake. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing CMake on CentOS 8 system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official CMake website.