Install NASM on Ubuntu 24.04

NASM, which stands for Netwide Assembler, is an assembler for the x86 and x86-64 computer architectures. It is used to convert assembly language code into machine code that can be executed by the CPU.

This tutorial explains how to install NASM on Ubuntu 24.04.

Install NASM

Update the package lists:

sudo apt update

Execute the following command to install NASM:

sudo apt install -y nasm

We can check NASM version as follows:

nasm --version

Testing NASM

Create a main.asm file:

nano main.asm

Add the following code:

section .data
    hello: db 'Hello world', 0x0A ; Define a string with a newline character
    helloLen: equ $-hello         ; Calculate string length

section .text
    global _start                 ; Entry point for the program

_start:
    mov eax, 4                    ; System call number (sys_write)
    mov ebx, 1                    ; File descriptor (stdout)
    mov ecx, hello                ; Pointer to the string
    mov edx, helloLen             ; Length of the string
    int 0x80                      ; Call kernel

    mov eax, 1                    ; System call number (sys_exit)
    xor ebx, ebx                  ; Exit code 0
    int 0x80                      ; Call kernel

Compile a code:

nasm -f elf64 -o test.o main.asm

Link object file and create an executable:

ld test.o -o test

Note: if ld command is not present in the system, it can be installed with sudo apt install -y binutils command.

Run a program:

./test

Uninstall NASM

If NASM is no longer needed, you can remove it using the following command:

sudo apt purge --autoremove -y nasm