GMT 6.x is not released yet. This instruction works for GMT 5.x only. To build the latest GMT 6 developing source codes, please refer to the Building Instructions.
GMT is available on Windows, macOS and Linux. Source and binary packages are provided for the latest release version, and can be downloaded from the Downloads page or the GitHub repository.
This file provides instructions about how to install GMT binary packages in different operating systems. Please refer to Building Instructions for compiling GMT source package (either stable release or development version).
Note: For mysterious reasons, many Linux distros are way behind in packing a recent GMT version. Typically you may find they offer 5.2.1 from 2015 while the rest of us have moved on to 2018. Your best bet then is to build the latest release from source. Otherwise, installing from the distros goes like this:
Install GMT5 via
sudo apt-get install gmt gmt-dcw gmt-gshhg
Note: The Ubuntu package under 16.04 LTS for mysterious reasons does not include the supplements. If you need them you will need to build from source or upgrade to 18.04 LTS.
GMT binary packages are available from Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux. For RHEL and CentOS you can add this repository by telling yum:
sudo yum install epel-release
then, you can install GMT5 via
sudo yum install GMT gshhg-gmt-nc4-all dcw-gmt
You can use the conda package manager that comes with the Anaconda Python Distribution to install GMT:
conda install gmt --channel conda-forge
Download the application bundle (gmt-5.x.x-darwin-x86_64.dmg) and drag GMT-5.x.x.app to any folder. This bundle includes a self contained GMT installation. GMT-5.x.x.app opens a terminal from which you can invoke GMT programs and scripts. If you like, you can add the GMT programs contained in the application bundle to your search path for executables. For that, just run GMT.app once and type:
echo ${PATH%%:*}
in the terminal. Then prepend this directory to your PATH environment variable, e.g., in ~/.bashrc. Note: The installer is always built for the latest macOS version only.
Install macports and then the required ports in this order:
sudo port install gdal +curl +geos +hdf5 +netcdf
sudo port install gmt5
A legacy GMT 4 port, gmt4, is available too and a side by side installation is possible. Optional FFTW-3 support and experimental OpenMP parallel acceleration can be enabled with the +fftw3 and +openmp flags.
Installation of GMT through Fink is quite easy. All required packages will also be installed. Ghostscript is not strictly required but very convenient to view PS files.
For the latest GMT 5 version use:
sudo fink install gmt5
For the legacy GMT 4 version use:
sudo fink install gmt
The two versions cannot live side by side.
Installation of GMT through Homebrew is extremely simple. Installing Homebrew itself is a one line command only (see the Homebrew page). You may need to update the formulas so for that you will do:
brew update && brew upgrade
For the latest GMT 5 version use:
brew install gmt
If you want to install GMT 4 and GMT 5 alongside, do:
brew unlink gmt && brew install gmt4
and to go from GMT 5 to GMT 4 (and vice-versa for 4 to 5, but see also the doc about gmtswitch):
brew unlink gmt && brew link gmt4
You can use the conda package manager that comes with the Anaconda Python Distribution to install GMT:
conda install gmt --channel conda-forge
We provide 32 and 64 bit standalone installers (e.g., gmt-5.x.x-win32.exe) in the downloads section. If you need the newest development version refer to the instructions for building GMT from source.
You can use the conda package manager that comes with the Anaconda Python Distribution to install GMT:
conda install gmt --channel conda-forge