First download ns-3 from https://www.nsnam.org/ns-3-26/download/. We are using ns-3.26 in this recipe. Extract the downloaded archive and run from the root directory ns-allinone-3.26:

$ ./build.py.

Since the allinone folder contains all the bundles, this build will consume a few minutes.

It shows the following upon the completion of the build:

'build' finished successfully (14m22.645s)
    
Modules built:
antenna                   aodv                      applications      
bridge                    buildings                 config-store      
core                      csma                      csma-layout       
dsdv                      dsr                       energy            
fd-net-device             flow-monitor              internet          
internet-apps             lr-wpan                   lte               
mesh                      mobility                  mpi               
netanim (no Python)       network                   nix-vector-routing 
olsr                      point-to-point            point-to-point-layout     
propagation               sixlowpan                 spectrum          
stats                     tap-bridge                test (no Python)  topology-read             traffic-control           uan               
virtual-net-device        wave                      wifi              wimax                     
    
Modules not built (see ns-3 tutorial for explanation):
brite                     click                     openflow          
visualizer                
    
Leaving directory `./ns-3.26'
  

In the preceding snippet, you may notice that a few modules including openflow are not built when built from the root directory. This is the expected behavior.

You may test ns-3 for one of the existing simulations. First go to the ns-3.26 directory:

$ cd ns-3.26

Now, let's test the bench-simulator included in ns-3. We will use waf, a Python-based build tool for this:

$ ./waf --run bench-simulator
Waf: Entering directory `/home/pradeeban/programs/ns-allinone-3.26/ns-3.26/build'
Waf: Leaving directory `/home/pradeeban/programs/ns-allinone-3.26/ns-3.26/build'
Build commands will be stored in build/compile_commands.json
'build' finished successfully (1.473s)
ns3.26-bench-simulator-debug: 
ns3.26-bench-simulator-debug: scheduler: ns3::MapScheduler
ns3.26-bench-simulator-debug: population: 100000
ns3.26-bench-simulator-debug: total events: 1000000
ns3.26-bench-simulator-debug: runs: 1
ns3.26-bench-simulator-debug: using default exponential distribution
    
Run #       Inititialization:       Simulation:          
Time (s)    Rate (ev/s) Per (s/ev)  Time (s)    Rate (ev/s) Per (s/ev)  
----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- 
(prime)     0.72        138889      7.2e-06     2.84        352113    2.84e-06    
0           0.23        434783      2.3e-06     2.94        340136    2.94e-06    
  

The screenshot of this simple bench simulation is as follows: