How do I install and build Generic Mapping Tools version 6.0.0 or above?

I used these steps to install it:

1. Install the required tools

   sudo apt install cdftools cmake
   sudo apt install build-essential libcurl4-gnutls-dev libnetcdf-dev
   

2. Download the source with:

   wget https://github.com/GenericMappingTools/gmt/releases/download/6.0.0/gmt-6.0.0-src.tar.xz
   

3. Untar the source file:

   tar -xvf gmt-6.0.0-src.tar.xz
   

4. Install the GSHHG and DCW-GMT:

   sudo apt install gmt-gshhg-full
   sudo apt install gmt-dcw
   

   • Locate these files using the command:

     dpkg -L gmt-gshhg-full
     dpkg -L gmt-dcw
     

5. Configuring:

   GMT can be built on any platform supported by CMake. CMake is a cross-platform, open-source system for managing the build process. The building process is controlled by two configuration files in the cmake directory:

   ConfigDefault.cmake is version controlled and used to add new default variables and set defaults for everyone. You should NOT edit this file. ConfigUser.cmake is not version controlled and used to override defaults on a per-user basis. There is a template file, ConfigUserTemplate.cmake, that you should copy to ConfigUser.cmake and make your changes therein. In the source tree, copy the template configuration file cmake/ConfigUserTemplate.cmake to cmake/ConfigUser.cmake, and edit the file according to your demands. This is an example:

   set (CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX /usr/local)
   set (GSHHG_ROOT /usr/share/gmt-gshhg)
   set (DCW_ROOT /usr/share/gmt-dcw)
   set (COPY_GSHHG true)
   set (COPY_DCW true)
   

6. Change into the untared folder and run the following commands:

   cd gmt-6.0.0
   mkdir build
   cd build
   cmake ..
   cmake --build .
   cmake --build . --target install
   

7. Find the location of the installed tool if you didn't set it yourself:

   which gmt
   

8. You also need to download support data:

   [GSHHG][1]: A Global Self-consistent, Hierarchical, High-resolution 
   Geography Database (>=2.2.0)
   [DCW-GMT][1]: The Digital Chart of the World (optional, >=1.0.5)
   

9. Optional libraries as needed:

   • Install optional dependencies

      sudo apt-get install gdal-bin libgdal-dev libfftw3-dev libpcre3-dev liblapack-dev libblas-dev libglib2.0-dev ghostscript
     

   • to enable movie-making

      sudo apt install graphicsmagick ffmpeg
     

   • to enable document viewing via gmt docs

      sudo apt install xdg-utils
     

   • to enable testing

      sudo apt-get install graphicsmagick
     

   • to build the documentation

      sudo apt install python-sphin
     

Update:

Setting path

Make sure you set the PATH to include the directory containing the GMT executables if this is not a standard directory like /usr/local/bin.

For Linux/macOS users, open your SHELL configuration file (usually ~/.bashrc) and add the line below to it.

export PATH=${PATH}:/path/to/gmt/bin
Then, you should now be able to run GMT programs.

Note: More information for fine tuning your install can be found here

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.

1. Learn your user ID using whoami. Let's say your user ID is user.

2. For example, I'd like to install this software in Documents.

install_dir='/home/user/Documents/gmt-6.0.0-src'
mkdir "$install_dir"
cd "$install_dir"

3. Install dependencies for Ubuntu/Debian.

sudo apt-get install subversion build-essential cmake libgdal-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libnetcdf-dev libfftw3-dev libpcre3-dev liblapack-dev libblas-dev gdal-bin libglib2.0-dev ghostscript graphicsmagick ffmpeg cdftools

4. Getting GMT source code

sudo apt install git
git clone https://github.com/GenericMappingTools/gmt.git GMT
cd  GMT

5. Download supported data

wget ftp://ftp.soest.hawaii.edu/gshhg/gshhg-gmt-2.3.7.tar.gz
wget ftp://ftp.soest.hawaii.edu/dcw/dcw-gmt-1.1.4.tar.gz
tar xvf gshhg-gmt-2.3.7.tar.gz
tar xvf dcw-gmt-1.1.4.tar.gz

6. Configuring

cp ./cmake/ConfigUserTemplate.cmake ./cmake/ConfigUser.cmake

• Edit ConfigUser.cmake. Use codes respectively as follows...

sed -i 's|#set (CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX "prefix_path")|set (CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX '"$install_dir"')|g' "$install_dir"/GMT/cmake/ConfigUser.cmake
sed -i 's|#set (GSHHG_ROOT "gshhg_path")|set (GSHHG_ROOT '"$install_dir\/GMT\/$gshhg"')|g' "$install_dir"/GMT/cmake/ConfigUser.cmake
sed -i 's|#set (DCW_ROOT "dcw-gmt_path")|set (DCW_ROOT '"$install_dir\/GMT\/$dcw"')|g' "$install_dir"/GMT/cmake/ConfigUser.cmake
sed -i 's|#set (COPY_GSHHG TRUE)|set (COPY_GSHHG TRUE)|g' "$install_dir"/GMT/cmake/ConfigUser.cmake
sed -i 's|#set (COPY_DCW TRUE)|set (COPY_DCW TRUE)|g' "$install_dir"/GMT/cmake/ConfigUser.cmake

7. Building and installing

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install

8. Setting path

echo "export PATH=$PATH:$install_dir/bin" >> ~/.profile
. ~/.profile

9. Test it.

cd "$install_dir"
gmt begin GMT_tut_3
gmt coast -R-90/-70/0/20 -JM6i -B -Gchocolate
gmt end show

10. Documentation

NOTE: Tested for Ubuntu 19.10