GoAccess Latest Build-from-Source Notes: From Source Install to Real-Time HTML Reports

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:08:00 +0800

This is organized for 2026-04-29.
At this point, the latest stable version listed in the official README is 1.10.2.

1. Install build dependencies first

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential wget tar \
  libncurses-dev libmaxminddb-dev libssl-dev zlib1g-dev

2. Download the latest source package

cd /usr/local/src
sudo wget https://tar.goaccess.io/goaccess-1.10.2.tar.gz
sudo tar -xzvf goaccess-1.10.2.tar.gz
cd goaccess-1.10.2

3. Configure build options

`1`	`sudo ./configure --enable-utf8 --enable-geoip=mmdb --with-zlib`

If you also want TLS support for real-time HTML reports:

`1`	`sudo ./configure --enable-utf8 --enable-geoip=mmdb --with-zlib --with-openssl`

4. Build and install

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sudo make
sudo make install

5. Verify the version

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goaccess --version
which goaccess

6. View reports directly in the terminal

For common Nginx or Apache combined logs:

`1`	`goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log --log-format=COMBINED`

If the log path is Apache:

`1`	`goaccess /var/log/apache2/access.log --log-format=COMBINED`

7. Generate a static HTML report

goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  --log-format=COMBINED \
  -a \
  -o /usr/share/nginx/html/goaccess-report.html

You can also write it to the current directory:

goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  --log-format=COMBINED \
  -a \
  -o report.html

8. Generate a real-time HTML report

goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  --log-format=COMBINED \
  -a \
  -o /usr/share/nginx/html/goaccess-report.html \
  --real-time-html

To change the port:

goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  --log-format=COMBINED \
  -a \
  -o /usr/share/nginx/html/goaccess-report.html \
  --real-time-html \
  --port=7891

To bind only to localhost:

goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  --log-format=COMBINED \
  -a \
  -o /usr/share/nginx/html/goaccess-report.html \
  --real-time-html \
  --addr=127.0.0.1

9. Follow logs continuously

`1`	`tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log \| goaccess --log-format=COMBINED -`

From the beginning of the file and keep it live:

tail -f -n +0 /var/log/nginx/access.log | goaccess \
  --log-format=COMBINED \
  -o report.html \
  --real-time-html -

10. Look at only certain requests

For example, only requests containing firefox:

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tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log | grep -i --line-buffered 'firefox' | goaccess \
  --log-format=COMBINED -

For example, only 5xx and 3xx:

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tail -f -n +0 /var/log/nginx/access.log | awk '$9~/3[0-9]{2}|5[0-9]{2}/' | goaccess \
  --log-format=COMBINED \
  -o out.html -

11. Analyze multiple logs together

`1`	`goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/access.log.1 --log-format=COMBINED`

Read compressed and uncompressed logs together:

`1`	`zcat --force /var/log/nginx/access.log* \| goaccess --log-format=COMBINED -`

12. Enable multithreading

goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  --log-format=COMBINED \
  -o report.html \
  -j 4

Increase chunk size:

goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  --log-format=COMBINED \
  -o report.html \
  -j 4 \
  --chunk-size=8192

13. Incremental processing

Persist an older log first:

`1`	`goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log.1 --log-format=COMBINED --persist`

Then append the current log:

`1`	`goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log --log-format=COMBINED --restore --persist`

Read only persisted data:

`1`	`goaccess --restore`

14. The set of commands I would run first

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential wget tar \
  libncurses-dev libmaxminddb-dev libssl-dev zlib1g-dev

cd /usr/local/src
sudo wget https://tar.goaccess.io/goaccess-1.10.2.tar.gz
sudo tar -xzvf goaccess-1.10.2.tar.gz
cd goaccess-1.10.2
sudo ./configure --enable-utf8 --enable-geoip=mmdb --with-zlib --with-openssl
sudo make
sudo make install

goaccess --version

goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  --log-format=COMBINED \
  -a \
  -o /usr/share/nginx/html/goaccess-report.html \
  --real-time-html

That is basically it.
If your goal is clear, getting the latest source build installed and making --log-format=COMBINED plus --real-time-html work first is usually enough. After that, most changes are just about log paths, output files, and ports.

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