How to Install GAU (Get All URLs) on Ubuntu 24.04: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Install GAU on Ubuntu 24.04: Easy Guide

Last verified for accuracy: August 26th, 2025

If you’ve been struggling to install GAU (Get All URLs) on your Ubuntu system, you’re not alone. I’ve had my fair share of headaches with it in the past! But I recently found a reliable method to install GAU on a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 system using the terminal, and it worked like a charm. In this post, I’ll walk you through the exact steps to get GAU up and running as the root user, assuming you have internet access. Let’s dive in!

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Why GAU?

GAU is a powerful tool for fetching URLs from various sources like the Wayback Machine, Common Crawl, and more. It’s a favorite among security researchers and web enthusiasts for reconnaissance tasks. The method below uses the pre-built binary from the official GitHub releases (version 2.2.4 at the time of writing), which avoids dependency issues and makes installation a breeze.

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Prerequisites

• A fresh Ubuntu 24.04 system.
• Root access via the terminal.
• An active internet connection.

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Step-by-Step Installation Guide

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1. Update Your Package List

While not strictly necessary, it’s always a good idea to ensure your system is up to date. Run this command to refresh the package list:

apt update

2. Navigate to a Temporary Directory

Let’s move to a temporary directory to keep things clean while downloading the GAU binary:

cd /tmp

3. Check Your System Architecture

GAU provides binaries for different architectures, so you need to know whether your system is amd64 (most common for desktops and servers) or arm64 (for ARM-based systems like Raspberry Pi). Run this command to check:

uname -m

• If the output is x86_64, you’ll use the amd64 binary.
• If it’s aarch64, go for the arm64 binary.

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4. Download the GAU Binary

Using wget, download the appropriate tar.gz file for your architecture. For amd64, use this command:

wget https://github.com/lc/gau/releases/download/v2.2.4/gau_2.2.4_linux_amd64.tar.gz

Note: If your system is arm64, replace amd64 with arm64 in the URL:

wget https://github.com/lc/gau/releases/download/v2.2.4/gau_2.2.4_linux_arm64.tar.gz

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5. Extract the Downloaded File

Unpack the tar.gz file to access the GAU binary:

tar xvf gau_2.2.4_linux_amd64.tar.gz

Again, replace amd64 with arm64 if that’s your architecture.

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6. Move the Binary to a System-Wide Location

To make GAU accessible from anywhere in the terminal, move the extracted gau binary to /usr/local/bin:

mv gau /usr/local/bin/

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7. Set Execute Permissions

The binary should already be executable, but let’s make sure:

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gau

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8. Verify the Installation

Test that GAU is installed correctly by checking its version:

gau --version

If everything went smoothly, you should see an output like gau version 2.2.4. Congrats, GAU is ready to use!

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Troubleshooting Tips

If you hit any snags, here are some quick fixes:

• No wget installed? Run apt install wget to get it.
• Wrong architecture? Double-check your system with uname -m and download the correct binary (amd64 or arm64).
• Want to verify the download? Grab the checksum file from the GAU releases page and use sha256sum -c to confirm the file’s integrity.
• Need to uninstall? Simply run rm /usr/local/bin/gau to remove GAU.
• User Context: Ubuntu emphasizes non-root users with sudo for privileged actions, so paths are often ~/go/bin (e.g., /home/username/go/bin) instead of /root/go/bin. Commands affecting system-wide paths (e.g., /usr/local/go) need sudo.
• Go Removal: If Go was installed via apt on Ubuntu (common), use sudo apt remove golang-go instead of manual deletion.
• Verification: Add a check for apt-installed packages on Ubuntu, though unlikely for gau.

If gau was installed differently (e.g., manual binary or via a third-party method), adjust accordingly. Below are the tailored steps for Ubuntu.

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Removing GAU on Ubuntu

1. Remove the gau binary:
   The binary is typically in ~/go/bin/gau for non-root users. First, locate it:

which gau

Then delete it (replace with the actual path if different):

rm ~/go/bin/gau

2. Remove Go-related gau package files (if applicable):
   If gau was installed using Go, remove the associated package files:

rm -rf ~/go/pkg/mod/github.com/lc/gau*

3. Verify removal:
   Check if gau is still accessible:

which gau

If it returns nothing, the binary is removed. Also try:

gau --version

It should return “command not found.”

4. Clean up Go environment (optional):
   If you want to clean unused Go packages:

go clean -modcache

This removes all cached Go modules—use with caution.

5. Check for configuration files (if any):
   gau usually doesn’t create configs, but search your home directory:

find ~ -name ".gau*" -exec rm -rf {} \;

6. Remove Go (optional, if not needed):
   If Go was the only reason for installation:

• For manual installs:

rm -rf ~/go
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go

• For apt installs (check with which go):

sudo apt remove golang-go
sudo apt autoremove

7. Verify PATH:
   Ensure /go/bin references are gone:

echo $PATH

If present, edit ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile to remove them, then reload:

source ~/.bashrc

Notes:

• If gau was somehow installed via apt (rare, as it’s not in Ubuntu repos), remove with:

sudo apt remove gau

sudo apt autoremove

• Check first: dpkg -l | grep gau.
• For manual binary installs (not Go), just delete the file and configs.
• If issues persist, search for other copies:

sudo find / -name "gau" 2>/dev/null

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Final Thoughts

This method is straightforward and skips the hassle of installing Go or dealing with dependency issues, which was a lifesaver for me. By using the pre-built binary, you get GAU up and running in minutes. If you run into any errors, drop the error message in the comments below, and I’ll help you troubleshoot!

Happy URL hunting with GAU! 🚀

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