opencv/doc/tutorials/introduction/linux_install/linux_install.rst

.. _Linux-Installation:

Installation in Linux
*********************
These steps have been tested for Ubuntu 10.04 but should work with other distros as well.

Required Packages
=================

* GCC 4.4.x or later
* CMake 2.8.7 or higher
* Git
* GTK+2.x or higher, including headers (libgtk2.0-dev)
* pkg-config
* Python 2.6 or later and Numpy 1.5 or later with developer packages (python-dev, python-numpy)
* ffmpeg or libav development packages: libavcodec-dev, libavformat-dev, libswscale-dev
* [optional] libtbb2 libtbb-dev
* [optional] libdc1394 2.x
* [optional] libjpeg-dev, libpng-dev, libtiff-dev, libjasper-dev, libdc1394-22-dev

The packages can be installed using a terminal and the following commands or by using Synaptic Manager:

    .. code-block:: bash

       [compiler] sudo apt-get install build-essential
       [required] sudo apt-get install cmake git libgtk2.0-dev pkg-config libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libswscale-dev
       [optional] sudo apt-get install python-dev python-numpy libtbb2 libtbb-dev libjpeg-dev libpng-dev libtiff-dev libjasper-dev libdc1394-22-dev

Getting OpenCV Source Code
==========================

You can use the latest stable OpenCV version or you can grab the latest snapshot from our `Git repository <https://github.com/Itseez/opencv.git>`_.

Getting the Latest Stable OpenCV Version
----------------------------------------

* Go to our `downloads page <http://opencv.org/downloads.html>`_.

* Download the source archive and unpack it.

Getting the Cutting-edge OpenCV from the Git Repository
-------------------------------------------------------

Launch Git client and clone `OpenCV repository <http://github.com/itseez/opencv>`_.
If you need modules from `OpenCV contrib repository <http://github.com/itseez/opencv_contrib>`_ then clone it too.

For example

.. code-block:: bash

   cd ~/<my_working_directory>
   git clone https://github.com/Itseez/opencv.git
   git clone https://github.com/Itseez/opencv_contrib.git

Building OpenCV from Source Using CMake
=======================================

#. Create a temporary directory, which we denote as <cmake_build_dir>, where you want to put the generated Makefiles, project files as well the object files and output binaries and enter there.

   For example

   .. code-block:: bash

      cd ~/opencv
      mkdir build
      cd build

#. Configuring. Run
   cmake [<some optional parameters>] <path to the OpenCV source directory>

   For example

   .. code-block:: bash

      cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..

   or cmake-gui

   * set full path to OpenCV source code, e.g. /home/user/opencv
   * set full path to <cmake_build_dir>, e.g. /home/user/opencv/build
   * set optional parameters
   * run: “Configure”
   * run: “Generate”

#. Description of some parameters

   * build type: CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release\\Debug
   * to build with modules from opencv_contrib set OPENCV_EXTRA_MODULES_PATH to <path to opencv_contrib/modules/>
   * set BUILD_DOCS for building documents
   * set BUILD_EXAMPLES to build all examples

#. [optional] Building python. Set the following python parameters:

   * PYTHON2(3)_EXECUTABLE = <path to python>
   * PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR = /usr/include/python<version>
   * PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR2 = /usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/python<version>
   * PYTHON_LIBRARY = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython<version>.so
   * PYTHON2(3)_NUMPY_INCLUDE_DIRS = /usr/lib/python<version>/dist-packages/numpy/core/include/

#. [optional] Building java.

   * Unset parameter: BUILD_SHARED_LIBS
   * It is useful also to unset BUILD_EXAMPLES, BUILD_TESTS, BUILD_PERF_TESTS - as they all will be statically linked with OpenCV and can take a lot of memory.

#. Build. From build directory execute make, recomend to do it in several threads

   For example

   .. code-block:: bash

      make -j7 # runs 7 jobs in parallel

#. [optional] Building documents. Enter <cmake_build_dir/doc/> and run make with target "html_docs"

   For example

   .. code-block:: bash

      cd ~/opencv/build/doc/
      make -j7 html_docs

#. To install libraries, from build directory execute

   .. code-block:: bash

      sudo make install

#. [optional] Running tests

   * Get the required test data from `OpenCV extra repository <https://github.com/Itseez/opencv_extra>`_.

   For example

   .. code-block:: bash

      git clone https://github.com/Itseez/opencv_extra.git

   * set OPENCV_TEST_DATA_PATH environment variable to <path to opencv_extra/testdata>.

   * execute tests from build directory.

   For example

   .. code-block:: bash

      <cmake_build_dir>/bin/opencv_test_core

.. note::

   If the size of the created library is a critical issue (like in case of an Android build) you can use the ``install/strip`` command to get the smallest size as possible. The *stripped* version appears to be twice as small. However, we do not recommend using this unless those extra megabytes do really matter.