Linux is preferred by a lot of developers for its simplicity when it comes to installing packages and dependencies with just a few commands. However, that doesn’t go as easy as expected always, and random bugs and errors keep popping up from time to time.
In this article, we’re looking at the “Configure: Error: Gdal-config not found or not executable” error and giving you three fixes for the problem.
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Why does this happen?
As you can probably guess from the error, the issue stems from a missing dependency in either libgdal or rgdal. Depending on which package you’re using in your R scripts, you will have to get the right version installed on your PC.
Also, make sure you’re using either the development or production version of the library, depending on your environment. Development libraries often have wider error tolerance that lets you get away with more problems in your code which show up as warnings instead of errors.
How to fix this?
Here are three ways you can fix the error.
Install libgdal
One of the primary reasons why you’re seeing this error is because of a missing dependency or package. Try installing libgdal to see if that fixes your problem.
sudo apt install libgdal-dev
Alternatively, you can also try this command
sudo apt-get install libgdal-dev
If you’re on macOS instead, use this command.
brew install gdal
Install all required dependencies
If installing libgdal didn’t cut it, try installing all the required dependencies for the package to function. Just open a terminal and enter the following commands one at a time.

apt-get install apt-file
apt-file update
apt-file search gdal-config
Install rgdal dependencies
if libgdal dependencies aren’t working for you, try installing rgdal dependencies instead to see if that fixes the problem.
sudo apt-get install gdal-bin proj-bin libgdal-dev libproj-dev
Once the installation is complete, install rgdal by using the following command:
install.packages("rgdal")
Once done, you can load rgdal in your R scripts using this command:
library(rgdal)
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