This page describes the installation and setup of gsutil, a tool that enables you to access Cloud Storage from the command-line using HTTPS.
Simply installing gsutil gives you immediate read and/or write access to public data. Authenticating to the Cloud Storage service gives you read and/or write access to protected data that has been shared with you. Enabling billing gives you the ability to create and manage your own buckets.
System requirements
The gsutil tool runs on Linux/Unix, Mac OS, and Windows (XP or later).
gsutil versions 5.0 and up require Python 3.
If you plan to use composite objects, you need to install compiled crcmod. On Windows, this is only available for 32-bit Python.
Installing gsutil
The officially supported installation and update method for gsutil is as part of the Google Cloud CLI.
Installing gsutil as part of the Google Cloud CLI
Follow the instructions for your operating system to install gsutil as a part of the Google Cloud CLI:
- Confirm that you have a supported version of Python. The Google Cloud CLI requires
Python 3 (3.5 to 3.8, 3.7 recommended) and
Python 2 (2.7.9 or higher). For information on how to choose and
configure your Python interpreter, see
gcloud topic startup
.As of January 1, 2020 the Python community no longer updates, fixes bugs, patches, or security issues for Python 2. We recommend that you upgrade to Python 3 as soon as possible. For more information, see Python 2 support on Google Cloud.
- Download one of the following:
Platform Package Size SHA256 Checksum Linux 64-bit (x86_64)
google-cloud-cli-397.0.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz 106.3 MB 4ba8ce1a4bbc1554ff9b1e9d71e01a0b3c1e881d5b8dff62e259939d85b7be43 Linux 64-bit (arm)
google-cloud-cli-397.0.0-linux-arm.tar.gz 103.1 MB 0dde7d1f83f23375b53fa33ec77eaeb3e406ae368c90d41f4de805b907b3508e Linux 32-bit (x86)
google-cloud-cli-397.0.0-linux-x86.tar.gz 104.2 MB 48982ffb31358fa096899ad035b1bda0d83b780c62839398a5106f61fbe7758d Alternatively, to download the Linux 64-bit archive file, at the command line, run:
curl -O https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/downloads/google-cloud-cli-397.0.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
For the 64-bit arm archive file, run:
curl -O https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/downloads/google-cloud-cli-397.0.0-linux-arm.tar.gz
For the 32-bit archive file, run:
curl -O https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/downloads/google-cloud-cli-397.0.0-linux-x86.tar.gz
- Extract the contents of the file to any location on your file system (preferably
your Home directory). To replace an existing installation, remove the existing
google-cloud-sdk
directory and then extract the archive to the same location. The following sample shows the command for 32-bit Linux. If you're using another platform, adjust the command accordingly:tar -xf google-cloud-cli-397.0.0-linux-x86.tar.gz
- Add the gcloud CLI to your path. Run the installation script from the root of the
folder you extracted to using the following command:
./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh
This can also be done non-interactively (for example, using a script) and by providing preferences as flags. To view the available flags, run:./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh --help
(Optional) To send anonymous usage statistics to help improve the gcloud CLI, answerY
when prompted.
To add the gcloud CLI to yourPATH
and enable command completion, answerY
when prompted. - Open a new terminal so that the changes take effect.
- To initialize the gcloud CLI, run
gcloud init
: - Optional. Install additional components using the component manager.
./google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud init
Package contents
The gcloud CLI is available in package format for installation on Debian and Ubuntu systems.
This package contains the gcloud
, gcloud alpha
,
gcloud beta
, gsutil
, and bq
commands only. It doesn't
include kubectl
or the App Engine extensions required to deploy an application using
gcloud
commands. If you want these components, you must
install them separately.
Before you install the gcloud CLI, make sure that your operating system meets the following requirements:
- An Ubuntu release that hasn't reached end-of-life or a Debian stable release that hasn't reached end-of-life
- apt-transport-https
is installed:
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https ca-certificates gnupg
- Add the gcloud CLI distribution URI as a package source. If your distribution
supports the signed-by option, run the following command:
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg] https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list
If your distribution doesn't support the signed-by option, run the following command:
echo "deb https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list
- Import the Google Cloud public key. If your distribution's
apt-key
command supports the--keyring
argument, run the following command:curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg add -
If your distribution's apt-key command doesn't support the
--keyring
argument, run the following command:curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
If your distribution (Debian 11+ or Ubuntu 21.10+) doesn't support
apt-key
, run the following command:curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg
If you can't get latest updates due to an expired key, obtain the latest apt-get.gpg key file.
- Update and install the gcloud CLI:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install google-cloud-cli
For additionalapt-get
options, such as disabling prompts or dry runs, refer to theapt-get
man pages.Docker Tip: If installing the gcloud CLI inside a Docker image, use a single RUN step instead:
RUN echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg] http://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list && curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | apt-key --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg add - && apt-get update -y && apt-get install google-cloud-cli -y
Ifapt-key
command is not supported:RUN echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg] http://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list && curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | tee /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg && apt-get update -y && apt-get install google-cloud-sdk -y
- (Optional) Install any of the following
additional components:
google-cloud-cli
google-cloud-cli-anthos-auth
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-go
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-grpc
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-python
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-python-extras
google-cloud-cli-bigtable-emulator
google-cloud-cli-cbt
google-cloud-cli-cloud-build-local
google-cloud-cli-cloud-run-proxy
google-cloud-cli-config-connector
google-cloud-cli-datalab
google-cloud-cli-datastore-emulator
google-cloud-cli-firestore-emulator
google-cloud-cli-gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
google-cloud-cli-kpt
google-cloud-cli-kubectl-oidc
google-cloud-cli-local-extract
google-cloud-cli-minikube
google-cloud-cli-nomos
google-cloud-cli-pubsub-emulator
google-cloud-cli-skaffold
google-cloud-cli-spanner-emulator
google-cloud-cli-terraform-validator
google-cloud-cli-tests
kubectl
For example, the
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java
component can be installed as follows:sudo apt-get install google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java
- Run
gcloud init
to get started:gcloud init
Downgrading gcloud CLI versions
To revert to a specific version of the gcloud CLI, where VERSION
is of the
form 123.0.0
, run the following command:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install google-cloud-cli=123.0.0-0
The ten most recent releases are always available in the repo.
NOTE: For releases prior to 371.0.0, the package name is google-cloud-sdk
Package contents
The gcloud CLI is available in package format for installation on Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Fedora 33, Fedora 34, CentOS 7, and Centos 8 systems. This package
contains the
gcloud
, gcloud alpha
, gcloud beta
, gsutil
, and
bq
commands only. It doesn't include kubectl
or the App Engine
extensions required to deploy an application using gcloud
commands, which can be
installed separately as described later in this section.
- Update DNF with gcloud CLI repo information. The following sample command is for a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8-compatible installation. For a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7-compatible
installation, replace
el8
withel7
in the value forbaseUrl
.sudo tee -a /etc/yum.repos.d/google-cloud-sdk.repo << EOM [google-cloud-cli] name=Google Cloud CLI baseurl=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/repos/cloud-sdk-el8-x86_64 enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 repo_gpgcheck=0 gpgkey=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/doc/yum-key.gpg https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/doc/rpm-package-key.gpg EOM
-
If you're installing on Fedora 34 or 35, install
libcrypt-compat.x86_64
.sudo dnf install libxcrypt-compat.x86_64
- Install the gcloud CLI:
sudo dnf install google-cloud-cli
- (Optional) Install any of the following
additional components:
google-cloud-cli
google-cloud-cli-anthos-auth
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-go
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-grpc
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-python
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-python-extras
google-cloud-cli-bigtable-emulator
google-cloud-cli-cbt
google-cloud-cli-cloud-build-local
google-cloud-cli-cloud-run-proxy
google-cloud-cli-config-connector
google-cloud-cli-datalab
google-cloud-cli-datastore-emulator
google-cloud-cli-firestore-emulator
google-cloud-cli-gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
google-cloud-cli-kpt
google-cloud-cli-kubectl-oidc
google-cloud-cli-local-extract
google-cloud-cli-minikube
google-cloud-cli-nomos
google-cloud-cli-pubsub-emulator
google-cloud-cli-skaffold
google-cloud-cli-spanner-emulator
google-cloud-cli-terraform-validator
google-cloud-cli-tests
kubectl
For example, the
google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java
component can be installed as follows:sudo dnf install google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java
- Run
gcloud init
to get started:gcloud init
Downgrading gcloud CLI versions
If you'd like to revert to a specific version of the gcloud CLI, where VERSION
is
of the form 123.0.0
, run:
sudo dnf downgrade google-cloud-cli-VERSION
The ten most recent releases will always be available in the repo.
NOTE: For releases prior to 371.0.0, the package name is google-cloud-sdk
-
Confirm that you have a supported version of Python:
-
To check your current Python version, run
python3 -V
orpython -V
. Modern versions of macOS include the appropriate version of Python required for the Cloud SDK. Supported versions are Python 3 (3.5 to 3.8, 3.7 recommended) and Python 2 (2.7.9 or higher).As of January 1, 2020 the Python community no longer updates, fixes bugs, patches, or security issues for Python 2. We recommend that you upgrade to Python 3 as soon as possible. For more information, see Python 2 support on Google Cloud.
- For Cloud SDK release version 352.0.0 and above, the main install script offers to install CPython's Python 3.7 on Intel-based Macs.
-
For more information on how to choose and configure your Python
interpreter, refer to
gcloud topic startup
.
-
To check your current Python version, run
- Download one of the following:
-
Extract the archive to any location on your file system (preferably your
Home directory). On macOS, this can be achieved by opening the downloaded
.tar.gz
archive file in the preferred location.To replace an existing installation, remove the existing
google-cloud-sdk
directory and then extract the archive to the same location. -
(Optional) Use the install script to add gcloud CLI tools to
your
PATH
.You can also opt-in to command-completion for your shell, usage statistics collection, and install Python 3.7.Run the script (from the root of the folder you extracted in the last step) using this command:
./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh
This can also be done non-interactively (for example, using a script) by providing preferences as flags. To describe the available flags, run:./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh --help
To run the install script with screen reader mode on:./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh --screen-reader=true
Open a new terminal so that the changes take effect. -
To initialize the gcloud CLI, run
gcloud init
: - Optional. Install additional components using the component manager.
Platform | Package | Size | SHA256 Checksum |
---|---|---|---|
macOS 64-bit
(x86_64) |
google-cloud-cli-397.0.0-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz | 106.6 MB | 3455f1136c8a87c87c419df22bbe93787991c04c5f27a9bc0b0c2ccdd455bbf4 |
macOS 64-bit
(arm64, Apple M1 silicon) |
google-cloud-cli-397.0.0-darwin-arm.tar.gz | 105.2 MB | 439654692d17796d7ffd2815bfea5423bc3a9ad07ecf57da931a98fe55c542af |
macOS 32-bit
(x86) |
google-cloud-cli-397.0.0-darwin-x86.tar.gz | 108.6 MB | b9d36ccf9f06c25ecc7eaeb2c188bfedc415d209d4532b4e280a3efff24c0180 |
./google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud init
-
The Google Cloud CLI works on Windows 8.1 and later and Windows Server 2012 and later.
-
Download the Google Cloud CLI installer.
Alternatively, open a PowerShell terminal and run the following PowerShell commands:
(New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadFile("https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/GoogleCloudSDKInstaller.exe", "$env:Temp\GoogleCloudSDKInstaller.exe") & $env:Temp\GoogleCloudSDKInstaller.exe
-
Launch the installer and follow the prompts. The installer is signed by Google LLC.
If you're using a screen reader, check the Turn on screen reader mode checkbox. This option configures
gcloud
to use status trackers instead of unicode spinners, display progress as a percentage, and flatten tables. For more information, see the Accessibility features guide. -
Cloud SDK requires Python; supported versions are Python 3 (preferred, 3.5 to 3.8) and Python 2 (2.7.9 or later). By default, the Windows version of Cloud SDK comes bundled with Python 3 and Python 2. To use Cloud SDK, your operating system must be able to run a supported version of Python.
As of January 1, 2020 the Python community no longer updates, fixes bugs, patches, or security issues for Python 2. We recommend that you upgrade to Python 3 as soon as possible. For more information, see Python 2 support on Google Cloud.
The installer installs all necessary dependencies, including the needed Python version. While Cloud SDK installs and manages Python 3 by default, you can use an existing Python installation if necessary by unchecking the option to Install Bundled Python. See
gcloud topic startup
to learn how to use an existing Python installation. After installation is complete, the installer gives you the option to create Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts, start the Google Cloud CLI shell, and configure the gcloud CLI. Make sure that you leave the options to start the shell and configure your installation selected. The installer starts a terminal window and runs the
gcloud init
command.- The default installation doesn't include the App Engine extensions required to deploy an
application using
gcloud
commands. These components can be installed using the gcloud CLI component manager.
- If your installation is unsuccessful
due to the
find
command not being recognized, ensure yourPATH
environment variable is set to include the folder containingfind
. Usually, this isC:\WINDOWS\system32;
. - If you uninstalled the gcloud CLI, you must reboot your system before installing the gcloud CLI again.
- If unzipping fails, run the installer as an administrator.
Perform updates with the components update
command: gcloud components update
.
To learn how to use gsutil, see Quickstart: Using the gsutil Tool exercise,
or run gsutil help
.
Alternative installation methods
There are several ways to install gsutil as a stand-alone product. You may prefer one of these methods if you do not want any of the other components that come with the gcloud CLI, or if you are managing packages with PyPI.
If you are installing gsutil 5.0 or higher, you must have Python 3 installed on your computer, with Python 3.5 to 3.8 preferred. Python 3 is installed by default on most distributions of Linux and macOS, however:
- Python 3 is not installed by default on Windows, but can be installed manually.
- Python 3 might not be installed by default on CentOS or RHEL. If it is not currently installed, it can be installed manually.
Expand the desired method for instructions to install gsutil.
Setting Up Credentials to Access Protected Data
Installing gsutil allows you to download and access publicly-accessible data, but in order to access protected data or write to a protected bucket, you need to set up credentials (authenticate). For example, if someone else has created a Cloud Storage account and uploaded data that is only accessible to you or other specific individuals, you must set up your credentials to the Cloud Storage service to be able to access this data.
If you installed gsutil as part of the Google Cloud CLI, follow these instructions. Otherwise, see the Authenticate stand-alone gsutil section.
Authenticate Google Cloud CLI
When using gsutil as part of the Google Cloud CLI, OAuth2 is used to
authenticate and authorize access. Note that you may have already performed
the following steps if you performed
Installing gsutil as part of the Google Cloud CLI above. If you
ran gcloud init
previously, you are asked if you want to re-initialize the
configuration or create a new one.
Open a command prompt instance.
Run
gcloud init
at the command prompt.You receive the following output:
Welcome! This command will take you through the configuration of gcloud. Your current configuration has been set to: [default] To continue, you must login. Would you like to login (Y/n)?
Type "Y" and press enter to login.
The command prints a URL and tries to open a browser window to request access to your project. If a browser window can be opened, you receive the following output:
Your browser has been opened to visit: https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2F...
Go to the next step.
If you are working on a local machine and your browser doesn't automatically load the URL, retry the
gcloud init
command with the--console-only
flag:gcloud init --console-only
If you use this command, or if the gcloud CLI detects that a browser can not be opened (such as if you are working on a remote machine), you receive the following output:
Go to the following link in your browser: https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?redirect_uri=urn%3Aietf%3Awg%3A... Enter verification code:
Open a browser and navigate to the URL provided.
If prompted, sign in with the Google account associated with your Cloud Storage data in the browser window.
Grant access.
If the browser window opened automatically, review the application permissions and click Accept when you are ready. The verification code is then automatically sent to the command line tool.
If you are working on a remote machine or used the
--console-only
flag, copy the verification code from the URL and paste it to the terminal command line, after Enter verification code:.
Choose the default project for this configuration.
After setting up your credentials, the Google Cloud CLI prompts you for a default project for this configuration and provides a list of available projects. Select a project ID from the list.
When you set this property, gsutil commands that require a project, such as
gsutil mb
, use the default project ID unless you override them with the-p
flag or set theCLOUDSDK_CORE_PROJECT
environment variable.
That's it. You're ready to access protected data. To see a listing of gsutil
commands, type gsutil
at the command prompt.
Authenticate stand-alone gsutil
Authenticate with HMAC
While OAuth 2.0 is the recommended way to authenticate gsutil, you can also
use HMAC keys for your credentials. To authenticate with HMAC,
use the -a
flag in the gsutil config
command:
gsutil config -a
Using this command takes you through a similar process as authenticating the stand-alone gsutil (see previous section), except you are prompted for the access ID and secret associated with your HMAC key.
If you are using the Google Cloud CLI, you also should disable credential passing using the command:
gcloud config set pass_credentials_to_gsutil false
Enable mTLS
You may also want to enable mutual TLS (mTLS). When mTLS is enabled on your
device, your device attempts to connect to
storage.mtls.googleapis.com
. Before the connection is allowed,
Cloud Storage verifies the certificate on your device.
The simplest way to to obtain a certificate is through Google Cloud CLI. You can set one manually in the .boto file by setting the following values under "Credentials":
-
use_client_certificate
: A flag controlling whether or not to use mTLS. -
cert_provider_command
: A shell command that prints a certificate to stdout for gsutil to read.
Try it for yourself
If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how Cloud Storage performs in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.
Try Cloud Storage free