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Bryan Honof edited this page Jul 30, 2024 · 77 revisions

The "Download" page for jq at https://jqlang.github.io/jq/download/ also includes instructions for installing jq from source. Downloads are also available from https://github.com/jqlang/jq/releases, and the FAQ includes supplementary information about installing jq.

The above-mentioned resources should be regarded as the primary points of reference regarding installation of jq.

The asdf "version manager" ("one version manager to rule them all" - https://asdf-vm.com/#/core-manage-asdf) can also be used for installation in Linux and MacOS environments.

See also https://repology.org/metapackage/jq/versions

Below are some "recipes", such as using Homebrew, or building from source.

Note: If make fails because of ruby or python, try running configure with the --disable-docs command-line option.

Zero Install

A convenient way to install one or more versions of jq on Linux, Windows or MacOS is to use 0install ("Zero Install").

Assuming 0install itself has already been installed and that ~/bin/jq does not yet exist, the most recent version of jq known to 0install can be installed by running:

0install add jq https://apps.0install.net/utils/jq.xml

To add a particular version, say jq 1.4, you could use the incantation:

0install add --version=1.4 jq1.4 https://apps.0install.net/utils/jq.xml

There are various ways to install 0install itself. For example, at a bash or similar prompt, you could run:

curl -O https://get.0install.net/0install.sh && chmod +x 0install.sh
./0install.sh

and then follow the directions. For further details about which versions of jq are available via 0install, enter the above jq.xml URL in your browser. See also https://roscidus.com/0mirror/feeds/https/apps.0install.net/utils%23jq.xml/feed.html

MacOS

With Homebrew

First, check that homebrew is available, e.g. by typing: which brew

(For details about installing homebrew, see http://brew.sh)

If you just want to install the homebrew version of jq:

$ brew install jq

or for the most recent version:

 brew install --HEAD jq

From github

The following instructions assume you want to install jq from the "master" branch, and that you wish to include regex support. If you do not wish to include regex support (that is, if you wish to build jq without oniguruma), then add the "-with-oniguruma=no" option to the configure command.

(a) If you do not need to install jq in "maintainer mode", then you could proceed as follows:

## Part 1:
# Ensure autoconf, automake and libtool are available, e.g. by running:
$ brew install autoconf automake libtool  

# You may also wish to install oniguruma at this point, e.g. by running: brew import oniguruma

## Part 2:
$ mkdir github		
$ cd github		
$ git clone https://github.com/jqlang/jq.git		
$ cd jq

## Part 3 - 
## Option 1: use the "builtin" oniguruma
cd modules/oniguruma
autoreconf -fi
cd ../..
autoreconf -i
./configure --with-oniguruma=builtin
make

## Option 2: use an alternative oniguruma
autoreconf -i
./configure --disable-maintainer-mode
make

(b) If you want to install jq in "maintainer mode", then you will need bison version 3, which can be made available by running:

$ brew install bison
# Ensure that this bison has priority than the system version.
$ export PATH="$(brew --prefix)/opt/bison/bin:$PATH"

Next, use brew to install or upgrade oniguruma, autoconf, automake and libtool as required, e.g.:

$ brew install oniguruma autoconf automake libtool

Finally:

$ mkdir github		
$ cd github		
$ git clone https://github.com/jqlang/jq.git		
$ cd jq; autoreconf -i ; ./configure ; make

Notes:

(1) If the autoreconf -i command fails with error messages such as the following:

/usr/local/bin/glibtoolize: line 401: /usr/local/Library/ENV/4.3/sed: No such file or directory

then either try running brew upgrade libtool, or create a link from the directory in the error messages to /usr/bin/sed

(2) If you get error messages involving pipenv and if you do not need the documentation to be "built", then add the --disable-docs flag to ./configure, e.g.

./configure --disable-docs

With MacPorts

jq version 1.5 has been available from MacPorts since August 21, 2015. Once MacPorts has been installed, run: sudo port install jq

Or build from source

The following, which is courtesy of @textarcana, should be regarded as illustrative. jq can be installed without using sudo, and the installation of RVM dependencies can be skipped if there is no need to create the documentation locally.

Install Bison 3:

cd /tmp
wget http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bison/bison-3.0.3.tar.gz
tar -xvzf bison-3.0.3.tar.gz
cd bison-3.0.3
sudo port install m4
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/bison
sudo make install
sudo ln -s /usr/local/bison/bin/bison /usr/bin/bison

Install Dependencies (RVM, for docs)

Note that as of February 26, 2019, ruby is no longer a dependency for building jq from "master"; python is used instead. If make fails because of python, run configure with the --disable-docs command-line option.

Note also that curl | bash is a best practice...

cd ~/jq/docs
curl -L https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable --ruby=1.9.3
cd docs
bundle install

Install Dependencies (Oniguruma)

wget https://web.archive.org/web/20150803013327/http://www.geocities.jp/kosako3/oniguruma/archive/onig-5.9.6.tar.gz
tar -xf onig-5.9.6.tar.gz
cd onig-5.9.6
./configure
make
sudo make install

Build jq Note: to cross-compile for a different OS/platform (e.g., Windows) see Cross-compile.

cd ~/jq
autoreconf -i
./configure
make -j8
sudo make install

Windows with choco

If you have "choco" (https://chocolatey.org), the following should install a pre-compiled binary:

choco install jq

On one machine, the above command installed jq at /cygdrive/c/ProgramData/chocolatey/bin/jq

Note that jq version 1.5 has a bug on Windows that causes it to crash when given file names over 38 characters in length.

Windows 10 using homebrew

In brief:

  1. Install bash for Windows 10
  2. Install homebrew for Linux (http://brew.sh)
  3. In a bash window, run: brew install jq

To upgrade to the development version:

brew upgrade --fetch-HEAD jq

With Docker

Directly install the release binary with Dockerfile:

ENV JQ_VERSION='1.5'

RUN wget --no-check-certificate https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jqlang/jq/master/sig/jq-release.key -O /tmp/jq-release.key && \
    wget --no-check-certificate https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jqlang/jq/master/sig/v${JQ_VERSION}/jq-linux64.asc -O /tmp/jq-linux64.asc && \
    wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/jqlang/jq/releases/download/jq-${JQ_VERSION}/jq-linux64 -O /tmp/jq-linux64 && \
    gpg --import /tmp/jq-release.key && \
    gpg --verify /tmp/jq-linux64.asc /tmp/jq-linux64 && \
    cp /tmp/jq-linux64 /usr/bin/jq && \
    chmod +x /usr/bin/jq && \
    rm -f /tmp/jq-release.key && \
    rm -f /tmp/jq-linux64.asc && \
    rm -f /tmp/jq-linux64

Flox

One can use Flox to install jq into their development environment on Linux, MacOS, and Windows through WSL.

$ flox init
✨ Created environment 'tmp.kAmqr3RpBT' (aarch64-darwin)

Next:
  $ flox search <package>    <- Search for a package
  $ flox install <package>   <- Install a package into an environment
  $ flox activate            <- Enter the environment
  $ flox edit                <- Add environment variables and shell hooks

$ flox install jq
✅ 'jq' installed to environment 'tmp.bCViSurqsu'
$ flox activate
✅ You are now using the environment 'tmp.bCViSurqsu'.
To stop using this environment, type 'exit'

flox [tmp.bCViSurqsu] $ jq --version
jq-1.7.1

Build from source using CMake

The perl5 binding author has made it possible to compile jq from source using CMake. Both jq executable and static/dynamic library can be made via following steps:

  1. Install CMake latest executable binary on your host, add cmake command into PATH.
  2. Download and extract jq latest source code into a local folder - $jq-version/.
  3. [not required for jq version >= 1.6] Download and extract oniguruma latest source code into $jq-version/modules/oniguruma. This is exact the same folder structure as in jq version 1.6 where oniguruma source is bundled together.
  4. Clone/Download https://github.com/dxma/perl5-alien-libjq and copy all the files within the jq subfolder into $jq-version/ directory. They are all required things for CMake.
  5. Execute cmake command with needed options. Nearly all options have the same name as in autoconf. A sample call can be found within the perl5 package - https://github.com/dxma/perl5-alien-libjq/blob/master/alienfile#L34

Note the CMake support is still work in progress: such as MSVC support on Windows, jq document generation and other internal dev options. Check the latest copy of https://github.com/dxma/perl5-alien-libjq/blob/master/jq/CMakeLists.txt for 'TODO' and 'NOTE'.

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