How to Solve Make Command Not Found Error in Linux Bash

The make tool determines automatically which pieces of a large program need to be recompiled and issues the commands to recompile them. This article will explain how to install the make command and solve the bash: make: command not found error in Linux Bash.

Solve the bash: make: command not found Error in Bash

You can use the make tool to describe any task where some files must be updated automatically from others whenever the others change. If you are getting the bash: make: command not found error when using this command, the make tool is not installed correctly on your system.

The rest of the article will explain different ways to download this tool.

Install the make Tool for Linux

The make tool can be installed on different operating systems with the following commands.

1. For Arch Linux / Manjaro

   Install the whole package, including the make tool.

   sudo pacman -S base-devel
   

   Alternatively, you can install just the make package.

   sudo pacman -S make
   

2. For Ubuntu

   Install the whole package, including the make tool.

   sudo apt install build-essential
   

   Alternatively, you can install just the make package.

   sudo apt install make
   

   This error occurs because maybe the make command is not in the $PATH variable. Use the command below to reinstall the make package.

   sudo apt install --reinstall make
   

Install the make Tool for MINGW64 in Bash

1. Download the make without-guile version (make-4.3-without-guile-w32-bin.zip or older version) from here.
2. Extract the zip file.
3. Copy the content to the C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\ folder. Make sure it does not overwrite other files.

Another way to install this tool is to use the choco command. If Chocolatey is installed on your system, use the command below.

choco install make

You can successfully install the make tool by choosing the one that suits you best from these options. To check the installation, check the version of the tools.

make --version

If you can see the version information without error, you can use the make command.