Installing Libmcrypt on Ubuntu Linux

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Tutorials > Libraries > Libmcrypt > Installation

This short tutorial shows you how to install libmcrypt on Ubuntu Linux Server. The process is very simple. For this tutorial, I'll be installing libmcrypt version 2.5.8. Linux kernel is 2.6.15-26-powerpc. I have used a Mac Mini (powerpc/ppc architecture). GCC version number is 4.0.3. Your configuration may be different from mine but the installation steps below should work fine for most configurations with little or no change at all (including other Linux distributions and even unixes e.g. MacOS X).

Libmcrypt:

According to freshmeat.net,

"Libmcrypt is a library which provides a uniform interface to several symmetric encryption algorithms. It is intended to have a simple interface to access encryption algorithms in ofb, cbc, cfb, and ecb modes. The algorithms it supports are DES, 3DES, RIJNDAEL, Twofish, IDEA, GOST, CAST-256, ARCFOUR, SERPENT, SAFER+, and more. The algorithms and modes are also modular so you can add and remove them on the fly without recompiling the library."

Before starting, please check to see if there is a latest version available to download. Visit http://sourceforge.net/projects/mcrypt to find out about the available versions. IMPORTANT: See "Configuring Ubuntu Linux After Installation" to install the development tools required to compile and install libmcrypt from source code.

Steps to download, compile, and install are as follows. Note: Replace 2.5.8 with your version number:

Downloading Libmcrypt:
Run the command below,
wget http://easynews.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/mcrypt/libmcrypt-2.5.8.tar.gz
Extracting files from the downloaded package:

tar -xvzf libmcrypt-2.5.8.tar.gz
Now, enter the directory where the package is extracted.
cd libmcrypt-2.5.8
Configuring Libmcrypt Library:

./configure --prefix=/usr/local/libmcrypt --disable-posix-threads
Replace "/usr/local/libmcrypt" above with the directory path where you want to copy the files and folders. Note: check for any error message.
Compiling Libmcrypt:

make

Note: check for any error message.
Installing libmcrypt:

As root (for privileges on destination directory), run the following.
With sudo,
sudo make install
Without sudo,
make install

Note: check for any error messages.
Installing libltdl
Some software e.g.PHP require the libltdl library that comes with libmcrypt, so lets install that as well. From inside the libmcrypt directory, run the following commands.
cd libltdl
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/libmcrypt/libltdl --enable-ltdl-install
make
make install # As root

Note: check for any error message.

Replace "/usr/local/libmcrypt/" with the directory path where you installed libmcrypt in previous steps.

That’s it. Library has bee successfully installed.

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