Linux Dev Machine Setup

This repository contains useful scripts to set up a Linux development machine. They have been tested with the following OSes:

Distro	SKU	Version(s)
Pop!_OS	Desktop	18.04, 19.10
Ubuntu	Desktop	18.04, 19.10
Ubuntu	WSL 2	18.04
Debian	Desktop	9, 10
Debian	WSL 2	10

Text shell customization assumes you're using bash. GUI shell customization assumes you're using Gnome. Alternate distros and/or shells are left as an exercise for the reader.

Please fork this and customize it

The purpose here is to document what I use for my personal Linux-based development. You will likely want to make changes to my customizations, including adding/removing software, choosing different defaults, etc. While you can make those changes locally, if you plan to use these scripts long-term, it will likely be more beneficial for you if you fork this project so you can preserve your changes and easily merge newer versions of these scripts.

Pre-Requisites

1. Make sure you're up to date:

   $ sudo apt update
   $ sudo apt -y upgrade

2. Install Ansible:

   $ sudo apt -y install ansible

3. If you want to clone this Git repo, you should also install Git (sudo apt -y install git). These scripts will install it for you if you brought these files along in some other way.

Additional pre-requisites for Ubuntu/Pop!_OS desktop 19.10 users

You need to install a Python3 package before running the Ansible playbook:

$ sudo apt -y install python3-distutils

If you forget this step, running the playbook will yield several messages like [WARNING]: Skipping plugin (/.../filename) as it seems to be invalid: No module named 'distutils.spawn'.

Additional pre-requisites for Debian desktop 9 users

The version of Ansible that ships with Debian 9 is not new enough for these scripts. You can find installation instructions here to get a current version installed.

Running

Before running the scripts, please review _all.yaml and _all_no_customization.yaml, and comment out software you don't want installed. In particular, most folders contain customization.yaml files which tend to contain my personal opinions on customizations; feel free to comment out sections of those files, or ignore them entirely.

To run the setup:

$ ansible-playbook -K _all.yaml

You will be prompted for your password, so that administrative-level software can be installed. You must be a sudoer to run these scripts, otherwise the installation process will fail. You can also run individual files if you'd prefer to take more control over what's executed.

Since core OS packages are upgraded, it is safest to reboot the PC/VM after running these scripts. At a bare minimum, many UI shell customizations done here will require you to log out and log back in.

Notes on differences between Linux distros

In general, these scripts are optimized around the experience of users of Ubuntu desktop distributions. These

Desktop vs. WSL 2 distributions

Special affordances are made to enable support for WSL 2. Most of the GUI customization is not done, though some GUI applications are installed. Users will need to install an X server on their machine to run those GUI applications. I use (and strongly recommend) X410, which can be found in the Microsoft Store.

Debian (all versions)

• Alacritty is not available on Debian.
• Insync is not available on Debian.
• Microsoft TTF fonts are not available on Debian.

Debian 9

• Flameshot is not available on Debian 9.
• Gnome Tweaks tool is not available on Debian 9.

Debian 10

• PowerShell Core is not (yet) supported on Debian 10. You can download a v7 preview build manually in the meantime.

Pop!_OS desktop 19.10 / Ubuntu desktop 19.10

• The "Dash to Panel" Gnome extension appears to be broken.