First, download the namebench source code file and extract it. You will also need Python 2.5 - 2.7 installed. Mac OS X and most UNIX distributions come with this already. Assuming all of this, it's normally just as easy as typing:

 ./namebench.py 

If namebench launches a graphical window (because you have Tk), you can use the -x option to force it to command-line mode.

namebench will test the nameservers your machine is currently using, plus the popular global DNS services, and the best 4-6 additional name servers that it can find for you. It will output some text-graphs and URL's for more a more detailed performance analysis of each nameserver.

If you want to specify an additional set of name services, simply add the IP to the command-line, or edit namebench.cfg:

  ./namebench.py 10.0.0.1 192.168.0.1

 Options:
   -h, --help            show this help message and exit
   -r RUN_COUNT, --runs=RUN_COUNT
                         Number of test runs to perform on each nameserver.
   -z CONFIG, --config=CONFIG
                         Config file to use.
   -o OUTPUT_FILE, --output=OUTPUT_FILE
                         Filename to write output to
   -t TEMPLATE, --template=TEMPLATE
                         Template to use for output generation (ascii, html,
                         resolv.conf)
   -c CSV_FILE, --csv_output=CSV_FILE
                         Filename to write query details to (CSV)
   -j HEALTH_THREAD_COUNT, --health_threads=HEALTH_THREAD_COUNT
                         # of health check threads to use
   -J BENCHMARK_THREAD_COUNT, --benchmark_threads=BENCHMARK_THREAD_COUNT
                         # of benchmark threads to use
   -P PING_TIMEOUT, --ping_timeout=PING_TIMEOUT
                         # of seconds ping requests timeout in.
   -y TIMEOUT, --timeout=TIMEOUT
                         # of seconds general requests timeout in.
   -Y HEALTH_TIMEOUT, --health_timeout=HEALTH_TIMEOUT
                         health check timeout (in seconds)
   -i INPUT_SOURCE, --input=INPUT_SOURCE
                         Import hostnames from an filename or application
                         (alexa, cachehit, cachemiss, cachemix, camino, chrome,
                         chromium, epiphany, firefox, flock, galeon, icab,
                         internet_explorer, konqueror, midori, omniweb, opera,
                         safari, seamonkey, squid, sunrise)
   -I, --invalidate_cache
                         Force health cache to be invalidated
   -q QUERY_COUNT, --query_count=QUERY_COUNT
                         Number of queries per run.
   -m SELECT_MODE, --select_mode=SELECT_MODE
                         Selection algorithm to use (weighted, random, chunk)
   -s NUM_SERVERS, --num_servers=NUM_SERVERS
                         Number of nameservers to include in test
   -S, --system_only     Only test current system nameservers.
   -w, --open_webbrowser
                         Opens the final report in your browser
   -u, --upload_results  Upload anonymized results to SITE_URL (False)
   -U SITE_URL, --site_url=SITE_URL
                         URL to upload results to
                         (http://namebench.appspot.com/)
   -H, --hide_results    Upload results, but keep them hidden from indexes.
   -x, --no_gui          Disable GUI
   -C, --enable-censorship-checks
                         Enable censorship checks
   -6, --ipv6_only       Only include IPv6 name servers
   -O, --only            Only test nameservers passed as arguments

Most everything about namebench can be tweaked: See the config/ subdirectory for more information.