title: Update to Monitoring Plugins
parent: FAQ
---

# How do I update to Monitoring Plugins?

If you installed the [Nagios Plugins][nagios-plugins] package in the
[past][fork] and now plan to use a Monitoring Plugins release, you should
check whether your operating system vendor provides an official package.  If no
such package exists, you might have to [install the Monitoring Plugins from
source][compiling].

You must then make sure the new plugins are found by your monitoring
application.  While the Nagios Plugins were usually installed into the
directory `/usr/local/nagios/libexec` when built from the source tarball, the
Monitoring Plugins are by default installed to `/usr/local/libexec`.  You can
change this by specifying the `--prefix` option when calling the `./configure`
script.  For example, the following commands would install the Monitoring
Plugins into the old location:

    $ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/nagios
    $ make
    $ su root -c 'make install'

If you prefer the new location (`/usr/local/libexec`), you must adjust your
monitoring application's configuration instead.  The details obviously depend
on the software you're using.  If in doubt, you will probably find the right
place(s) to modify by searching your configuration for the old pathname, e.g.:

    $ grep -r /usr/local/nagios /etc

If you run into any trouble, please don't hesitate to [contact us][support]!

[nagios-plugins]: http://www.nagios-plugins.org/ "Nagios Plugins"
[fork]: doc/faq/fork.html "What happened in the past"
[compiling]: doc/faq/compilation.html "Compiling the Monitoring Plugins"
[icinga-1]: https://www.icinga.org/icinga-1/ "Icinga 1"
[icinga-2]: https://www.icinga.org/icinga2/ "Icinga 2"
[naemon]: http://naemon.github.io/ "Naemon"
[nagios]: http://www.nagios.org/ "Nagios"
[support]: support.html "Monitoring Plugins Support"

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