Setting Up a Dev Environment on Linux

Linux is the developer's natural habitat. Here's how to set up everything you need to start coding.

Why Developers Love Linux

If you're getting into software development, Linux is arguably the best place to be. Here's why:

• Most servers run Linux. When you deploy a web app, a backend, or really anything to the cloud, it's almost certainly running on Linux. Developing on the same OS you deploy to eliminates a whole category of "works on my machine" bugs.
• Native tooling. Git, Docker, compilers, interpreters, databases — they're all built for Linux first. No fighting with compatibility layers or janky Windows ports.
• Package managers make installation painless. Need PostgreSQL? sudo apt install postgresql. Done. No downloading installers from websites, no "Next, Next, Finish" wizards.
• The terminal is a first-class citizen. Linux's terminal is powerful out of the box, and the whole ecosystem is designed around it. As a developer, you'll live in the terminal — and Linux makes that experience great.
• It's free and customizable. No licenses, no subscriptions, and you can tweak literally everything about your setup.

Code Editors & IDEs

Your editor is where you'll spend most of your time. Here are the most popular options on Linux.

VS Code (the crowd favorite)

Visual Studio Code is by far the most popular editor for developers. It's lightweight, has a massive extension ecosystem, and supports basically every language.

Install via Flatpak (works on any distro):

flatpak install flathub com.visualstudio.code

Or add Microsoft's official repo (Ubuntu/Debian):

# Import the Microsoft GPG key and repo
sudo apt install wget gpg
wget -qO- https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > packages.microsoft.gpg
sudo install -D -o root -g root -m 644 packages.microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg
echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list

sudo apt update
sudo apt install code

On Fedora:

sudo rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
echo -e "[code]\nname=Visual Studio Code\nbaseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/vscode\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc" | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/vscode.repo
sudo dnf install code

On Arch, you can grab the open-source build from the official repos or the full version from the AUR:

# Open-source build (no Microsoft telemetry)
sudo pacman -S code

# Or the full Microsoft version via AUR
yay -S visual-studio-code-bin

Neovim (for the adventurous)

Neovim is a modern fork of Vim — a terminal-based editor that's incredibly fast and endlessly configurable. The learning curve is steep, but many developers swear by it once they've gotten over the hump.

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install neovim

# Fedora
sudo dnf install neovim

# Arch
sudo pacman -S neovim

If you want a pre-configured Neovim setup instead of building your own, look into LazyVim, AstroNvim, or NvChad.

Other solid options

• Sublime Text — Blazing fast, minimal, and beautiful. Great if you want something lighter than VS Code. Free to evaluate, $99 for a license.
• JetBrains IDEs — IntelliJ (Java/Kotlin), PyCharm (Python), WebStorm (JavaScript), CLion (C/C++), GoLand (Go), and more. These are full-blown IDEs with deep language integration. The Community editions of IntelliJ and PyCharm are free. Install them via the JetBrains Toolbox App or Flatpak.

Git Setup

Git is the version control system used by essentially every developer. If you're going to write code, you need Git.

1. Install Git

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install git

# Fedora
sudo dnf install git

# Arch
sudo pacman -S git

2. Configure your identity

Git attaches your name and email to every commit you make. Set these to match your GitHub (or GitLab) account:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

A couple of other useful settings while you're at it:

# Set the default branch name to "main" (instead of "master")
git config --global init.defaultBranch main

# Use a nicer diff output
git config --global diff.colorMoved default

3. Set up an SSH key for GitHub

SSH keys let you push and pull from GitHub without typing your password every time. Here's how to set one up:

# Generate a new SSH key (hit Enter to accept defaults when prompted)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com"

# Start the SSH agent
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

# Add your key to the agent
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

# Copy your public key to the clipboard
# (install xclip first if you don't have it: sudo apt install xclip)
xclip -selection clipboard < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Now go to GitHub → Settings → SSH and GPG keys, click New SSH key, and paste your key. Give it a name like "Linux laptop" and save.

Test the connection:

ssh -T git@github.com
# You should see: "Hi username! You've successfully authenticated..."

Programming Languages

Click a language below to see how to set it up on Linux.

python3 --version

# Install pip if you don't have it
sudo apt install python3-pip    # Ubuntu/Debian
sudo dnf install python3-pip    # Fedora

# Install a library
pip install requests

# Create a virtual environment in your project folder
python3 -m venv .venv

# Activate it
source .venv/bin/activate

# Now pip install goes into this environment only
pip install flask

# Deactivate when you're done
deactivate

# Install dependencies first
sudo apt install build-essential libssl-dev zlib1g-dev \
  libbz2-dev libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev curl git \
  libncursesw5-dev xz-utils tk-dev libxml2-dev \
  libxmlsec1-dev libffi-dev liblzma-dev

# Install pyenv
curl https://pyenv.run | bash

# Add to your shell config (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)
echo 'export PYENV_ROOT="$HOME/.pyenv"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'command -v pyenv >/dev/null || export PATH="$PYENV_ROOT/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(pyenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc

# Restart your shell, then:
pyenv install 3.12
pyenv global 3.12

# Install nvm
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.1/install.sh | bash

# Restart your terminal, then install Node
nvm install --lts

# Verify
node --version
npm --version

# Install Rust via rustup
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Follow the prompts (default installation is fine)
# Then restart your terminal or run:
source "$HOME/.cargo/env"

# Verify
rustc --version
cargo --version

# Create a new project
cargo new my-project
cd my-project

# Build and run
cargo run

# Build for production
cargo build --release

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install golang

# Fedora
sudo dnf install golang

# Arch
sudo pacman -S go

# Download and extract (check go.dev for the latest version)
wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.23.4.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go
sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.23.4.linux-amd64.tar.gz

# Add to your PATH (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Verify
go version

# Ubuntu/Debian (installs the latest LTS version)
sudo apt install default-jdk

# Fedora
sudo dnf install java-latest-openjdk-devel

# Arch
sudo pacman -S jdk-openjdk

# Verify
java --version
javac --version

curl -s "https://get.sdkman.io" | bash
source "$HOME/.sdkman/bin/sdkman-init.sh"
sdk install java 21.0.2-tem

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install build-essential

# Fedora
sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools"

# Arch
sudo pacman -S base-devel

# Verify
gcc --version
g++ --version
make --version

sudo apt install clang        # Ubuntu/Debian
sudo dnf install clang         # Fedora
sudo pacman -S clang           # Arch

sudo apt install cmake         # Ubuntu/Debian
sudo dnf install cmake         # Fedora
sudo pacman -S cmake           # Arch

Docker

Docker lets you run applications in containers — lightweight, isolated environments that bundle an app with everything it needs to run. Think of it like a super-lightweight virtual machine. It's incredibly useful for development because:

• You can spin up a database, a Redis cache, or any service in seconds without installing it directly on your system.
• Your development environment matches production exactly.
• When you're done, you tear it down and your system stays clean.

Install Docker

# Remove any old versions
sudo apt remove docker docker-engine docker.io containerd runc

# Set up Docker's official repository
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list

# Install Docker
sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

# Let your user run Docker without sudo
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

# Log out and back in for the group change to take effect

# Add Docker's repo
sudo dnf -y install dnf-plugins-core
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/fedora/docker-ce.repo

# Install Docker
sudo dnf install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

# Start Docker and enable it on boot
sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

# Let your user run Docker without sudo
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

# Log out and back in for the group change to take effect

sudo pacman -S docker docker-compose docker-buildx

# Start Docker and enable it on boot
sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

# Let your user run Docker without sudo
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

# Log out and back in for the group change to take effect

Basic Docker usage

# Run a container (downloads the image if you don't have it)
docker run hello-world

# Run an interactive Ubuntu container
docker run -it ubuntu bash

# Run PostgreSQL in the background
docker run -d --name my-postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword -p 5432:5432 postgres

# See running containers
docker ps

# Stop a container
docker stop my-postgres

# Remove a container
docker rm my-postgres

# List downloaded images
docker images

Terminal Setup

The default terminal that comes with your desktop environment works fine, but if you want something faster, prettier, or more configurable, here are the popular picks.

Terminal emulators

Shell upgrades

Your default shell is probably Bash. It works great, but there are alternatives with nicer defaults:

Zsh + Oh My Zsh — the most popular upgrade. Zsh is Bash-compatible but adds better autocompletion, theming, and plugin support. Oh My Zsh is a framework that makes configuring Zsh easy:

# Install Zsh
sudo apt install zsh       # Ubuntu/Debian
sudo dnf install zsh       # Fedora
sudo pacman -S zsh         # Arch

# Set Zsh as your default shell
chsh -s $(which zsh)

# Install Oh My Zsh (restart your terminal first)
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Popular Zsh plugins worth adding: zsh-autosuggestions (suggests commands as you type based on history) and zsh-syntax-highlighting (colors valid commands green and invalid ones red).

Fish — the "friendly interactive shell." It has amazing autocompletion and syntax highlighting out of the box with zero configuration:

# Install Fish
sudo apt install fish       # Ubuntu/Debian
sudo dnf install fish       # Fedora
sudo pacman -S fish         # Arch

# Try it out
fish

# If you like it, set it as default
chsh -s $(which fish)

Useful CLI Tools

These are the tools you'll see recommended constantly in dev circles. They're all worth installing.

Install them all in one go:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install htop tmux ripgrep fzf bat

# Fedora
sudo dnf install htop tmux ripgrep fzf bat

# Arch
sudo pacman -S htop tmux ripgrep fzf bat eza

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib

# Start the service
sudo systemctl start postgresql
sudo systemctl enable postgresql

# Create a database user matching your Linux username
sudo -u postgres createuser --interactive

# Create a database
createdb myproject

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install mariadb-server

# Fedora
sudo dnf install mariadb-server

# Start and secure it
sudo systemctl start mariadb
sudo systemctl enable mariadb
sudo mysql_secure_installation

# Install if needed
sudo apt install sqlite3

# Create/open a database
sqlite3 myproject.db

What's Next?

With all this set up, you've got a seriously capable development machine. From here, you might want to:

• Learn some Linux file structure basics so you know where things live
• Get familiar with your package manager for installing new tools
• Set up your desktop environment the way you like it