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#!/bin/bash
set -e # Exit on any error
echo "🌍 GDAL Latest Version Installer"
echo "=================================="
# Check if running as root
if [[ $EUID -eq 0 ]]; then
echo "❌ This script should not be run as root directly."
echo " Run it as a regular user with sudo access."
echo " Usage: curl -sL [YOUR_URL] | bash"
exit 1
fi
# Check if sudo is available
if ! command -v sudo &> /dev/null; then
echo "❌ sudo is required but not installed."
exit 1
fi
echo "πŸ” Fetching latest GDAL version..."
# Parse the GDAL CURRENT page to get the latest version
GDAL_PAGE=$(curl -s https://download.osgeo.org/gdal/CURRENT/)
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
echo "❌ Failed to fetch GDAL version page"
exit 1
fi
# Extract the tar.gz filename using grep and sed
GDAL_TAR=$(echo "$GDAL_PAGE" | grep -o 'gdal-[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.tar\.gz' | head -1)
if [ -z "$GDAL_TAR" ]; then
echo "❌ Could not find GDAL tar.gz file in the current directory"
exit 1
fi
# Extract version number from filename
GDAL_VERSION=$(echo "$GDAL_TAR" | sed 's/gdal-\([0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\)\.tar\.gz/\1/')
GDAL_DIR="gdal-$GDAL_VERSION"
GDAL_URL="https://download.osgeo.org/gdal/CURRENT/$GDAL_TAR"
echo "βœ… Found latest GDAL version: $GDAL_VERSION"
echo "πŸ“¦ Download URL: $GDAL_URL"
# Remove existing GDAL if installed
echo "πŸ—‘οΈ Removing existing GDAL installation..."
sudo apt purge -y gdal-bin || true
# Update package list
echo "πŸ“¦ Updating package list..."
sudo apt update
# Install build dependencies
echo "πŸ”¨ Installing build dependencies..."
sudo apt install -y build-essential cmake git
sudo apt install -y libproj-dev libgeos-dev libsqlite3-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev
sudo apt install -y libtiff5-dev libgeotiff-dev libpng-dev libjpeg-dev libgif-dev
# Create temporary directory for build
BUILD_DIR=$(mktemp -d)
cd "$BUILD_DIR"
echo "πŸ—οΈ Building in temporary directory: $BUILD_DIR"
# Download GDAL source
echo "⬇️ Downloading GDAL $GDAL_VERSION..."
wget "$GDAL_URL"
if [ ! -f "$GDAL_TAR" ]; then
echo "❌ Failed to download $GDAL_TAR"
exit 1
fi
# Extract source code
echo "πŸ“‚ Extracting source code..."
tar -xzf "$GDAL_TAR"
# Verify extraction
if [ ! -d "$GDAL_DIR" ]; then
echo "❌ Failed to extract GDAL source"
exit 1
fi
# Check for ECW coordinate system file (optional verification)
if [ -f "$GDAL_DIR/ogr/data/ecw_cs.wkt" ]; then
echo "βœ… ECW coordinate system file found"
else
echo "⚠️ ECW coordinate system file not found (this may be normal)"
fi
# Configure and build
echo "βš™οΈ Configuring build..."
cd "$GDAL_DIR"
mkdir build && cd build
echo "πŸ”§ Running CMake configuration..."
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
echo "πŸ”¨ Building GDAL (this may take a while)..."
make -j$(nproc)
echo "πŸ“¦ Installing GDAL..."
sudo make install
echo "πŸ”— Updating library cache..."
sudo ldconfig
# Cleanup
echo "🧹 Cleaning up temporary files..."
cd /
sudo rm -rf "$BUILD_DIR"
# Verify installation
echo "βœ… Verifying installation..."
if command -v gdalinfo &> /dev/null; then
INSTALLED_VERSION=$(gdalinfo --version | cut -d' ' -f2 | cut -d',' -f1)
echo "πŸŽ‰ GDAL successfully installed!"
echo " Version: $INSTALLED_VERSION"
echo " Location: $(which gdalinfo)"
else
echo "❌ GDAL installation verification failed"
exit 1
fi
echo ""
echo "🌟 Installation complete!"
echo " You can now use both classic and modern GDAL commands:"
echo ""
echo " πŸ“Š Get dataset info:"
echo " - gdal raster info my.tif"
echo " - gdal vector info my.gpkg"
echo ""
echo " πŸ”„ Convert and transform:"
echo " - gdal raster convert --of COG input.tif output.tif"
echo " - gdal vector convert --format GPKG input.shp output.gpkg"
echo ""
echo " βœ‚οΈ Clip and process:"
echo " - gdal raster clip --bbox 0,0,10,10 input.tif output.tif"
echo " - gdal vector clip --bbox 0,0,10,10 input.gpkg output.gpkg"
echo ""
echo " πŸš€ Try the new unified interface:"
echo " - gdal --help"
echo " - gdal raster --help"
echo " - gdal vector --help"
echo ""
echo " To verify everything works, try:"
echo " gdal --version"
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                    http://www.apache.org/licenses/

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@samapriya
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samapriya commented Jun 20, 2025

curl -sL "https://url.geocarpentry.org/gdal-ubuntu" | bash

@maxfenv
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maxfenv commented Feb 27, 2026

Hi @samapriya, thank you for this!

I was hoping if you could clarify the license that this gist is published under. For hopefully obvious reasons I am uncomfortable simply executing unseen shell scripts from the internet without vetting first. As such, I'd like to adapt this for my own needs and host it.

Is that ok?

Many Thanks
Max

@samapriya
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Hey @maxfenv
Just added an Apache 2 license adapt as needed you can always point to the original script here. I have been meaning to update this soon

Sam :)

@maxfenv
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maxfenv commented Mar 2, 2026

That's kind of you, thanks very much!

For completeness my adaptation is here: https://bitbucket.org/Environment-Systems/workspace/snippets/eqn9oM

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