Build and Install Instructions¶

Now we can compile and install Asterisk. To compile Asterisk, simply type make at the Linux command line.

[root@server asterisk-14.X.Y]# make

The compiling step will take several minutes, and you'll see the various file names scroll by as they are being compiled. Once Asterisk has finished compiling, you'll see a message that looks like:

+--------- Asterisk Build Complete ---------+
+ Asterisk has successfully been built, and +
+ can be installed by running: +
+ +
+ make install +
+-------------------------------------------+
+--------- Asterisk Build Complete ---------+

On this PageAs the message above suggests, our next step is to install the compiled Asterisk program and modules. To do this, use the make install command.

[root@server asterisk-14.X.Y]# make install

When finished, Asterisk will display the following warning:

+---- Asterisk Installation Complete -------+
+ +
+ YOU MUST READ THE SECURITY DOCUMENT +
+ +
+ Asterisk has successfully been installed. +
+ If you would like to install the sample +
+ configuration files (overwriting any +
+ existing config files), run: +
+ +
+ make samples +
+ +
+-------------------------------------------+
+---- Asterisk Installation Complete -------+

Warning

As the message above suggests, we very strongly recommend that you read the security documentation before continuing with your Asterisk installation. Failure to read and follow the security documentation can leave your system vulnerable to a number of security issues, including toll fraud.

Advanced Build and Install Options¶

Customizing the Build/Installation¶

In some environments, it may be necessary or useful to modify parts of the build or installation process. Some common scenarios are listed here

Passing compilation and linkage flags to gcc¶

Specific flags can be passed to gcc when Asterisk is configured, using the CFLAGS and LDFLAGS environment variables:

[root@server asterisk-14.X.Y]# ./configure CFLAGS=-pg LDFLAGS=-pg

Debugging compilation¶

To see all of the flags passed to gcc, build using the NOISY_BUILD setting set to YES:

[root@server asterisk-14.X.Y]# make NOISY_BUILD=yes

Building for non-native architectures¶

Generally, Asterisk attempts to optimize itself for the machine on which it is built on. On some virtual machines with virtual CPU architectures, the defaults chosen by Asterisk's compilation options will cause Asterisk to build but fail to run. To disable native architecture support, disable the BUILD_NATIVE option in menuselect:

[root@server asterisk-14.X.Y]# menuselect/menuselect --disable BUILD_NATIVE menuselect.makeopts

[root@server asterisk-14.X.Y]# make

Installing to a custom directory¶

While there are multiple ways to sandbox an instance of Asterisk, the preferred mechanism is to use the --prefix option with the configure script:

[root@server asterisk-14.X.Y]# ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/my_special_folder

Note that the default value for prefix is /usr/local.

Other Make Targets¶

Target	Description
	Executing `make` with no target is equivalent to the `all` target.
all	Compiles everything everything selected through the `configure` and `menuselect` scripts.
full	This is equivalent to `make` or `make all`, save that it will perform a more thorough investigation of the source code for documentation. This is needed to generate AMI event documentation. Note that your system must have Python in order for this make target to succeed.
install	Installs Asterisk, building Asterisk if it has not already been built. In general, this should be executed after Asterisk has successfully compiled.
uninstall	Removes Asterisk binaries, sounds, man pages, headers, modules and firmware builds from the system.
uninstall-all	Same as the `uninstall` target, but additionally removes configuration, spool directories and logs. All traces of Asterisk.
clean	Remove all files generated by make.
dist-clean	Remove pretty much all files generated by make and configure.
samples	Install all sample configuration files (.conf files) to `/etc/asterisk/`. Overwrites existing config files.
config	Install init scripts (startup scripts) on your system.
progdocs	Uses doxygen to locally generate HTML development documentation from the source code. Generated in the `doc/` subdirectory of the source; see `doc/index.html`.

Note

The full build target is only available in Asterisk 11 and later versions.

Note

uninstall-all build target will remove all Asterisk configuration from your system. Do not execute uninstall-all unless you are sure that is what you want to do.