Install the Latest Version of Nmap From Source on Linux Mint

How to install the latest version of Nmap from source code on Linux ( Mint )

  1. First create a directory in the /opt directory.
cd /opt
sudo mkdir /opt/nmap
  1. Next change to the /tmp directory and download the source via Github here.
cd /tmp
git clone https://github.com/nmap/nmap.git
  1. Now cd to the /tmp/nmap directory and run the configure script. Note: If the configure script fails try removing the --with-localdirs flag. Depends on how your libs are installed if you need it or not.
cd /tmp/nmap
./configure --with-localdirs

If configure is successful you should end up with something that looks like the following:

            .       .
            \`-"'"-'/
             } 6 6 {
            ==. Y ,==
              /^^^\  .
             /     \  )  Ncat: A modern interpretation of classic Netcat
            (  )-(  )/
            -""---""---   /
           /   Ncat    \_/
          (     ____
           \_.=|____E
Configuration complete.

          :================:
         /||# nmap -A _   ||
        / ||              ||
       |  ||              ||
        \ ||              ||
          ==================
   ........... /      \.............
   :\        ############            \
   : ---------------------------------
   : |  *   |__________|| ::::::::::  |
   \ |      |          ||   .......   |
     --------------------------------- 8

  NMAP IS A POWERFUL TOOL -- USE CAREFULLY AND RESPONSIBLY
Configured with: ndiff zenmap nping openssl zlib libssh2 lua ncat
Configured without: localdirs
Type make (or gmake on some *BSD machines) to compile.
  1. Now run make.
make
  1. Next copy the compiled nmap binary to the /opt/nmap directory.
sudo cp nmap /opt/nmap/
  1. Now run make install.
sudo make install
  1. Confirm your new nmap binary is installed and executable.
$ nmap --version
Nmap version 7.93SVN ( https://nmap.org )
Platform: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
Compiled with: liblua-5.3.3 openssl-1.1.1f nmap-libssh2-1.10.0 libz-1.2.11 libpcre-8.39 libpcap-1.9.1 nmap-libdnet-1.12 ipv6
Compiled without:
Available nsock engines: epoll poll select
$ nmap -p 22 localhost
Starting Nmap 7.93SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2022-09-15 09:38 EDT
Nmap scan report for localhost (127.0.0.1)
Host is up (0.00011s latency).

PORT   STATE  SERVICE
22/tcp closed ssh

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 0.12 seconds

What next?

If you're not that familar using nmap check out a previous post on my list of most useful nmap scans and one-liners.

Please use safely & responsibly! :)