Pop!_OS 22.04 Setup for Software Engineers

This repository contains instructions to set up Pop!_OS for developing software in Go, Rust, C# (.NET Core), Java, Python, and NodeJS, as well as web front-ends in React. The steps below should also work for Ubuntu and most Ubuntu-based Linux distributions.

Update the OS and install common tools

The first thing you should do is get the latest security updates:

sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade -y

Next, install common development tools:

sudo apt install \
build-essential \
apt-transport-https \
ca-certificates \
curl \
software-properties-common \
apache2-utils \
make \
chromium-browser \
gnome-tweaks \
gnome-shell-extensions \
dconf-editor

Cleanup:

sudo apt autoremove -y
sudo apt autoclean -y

Check for firmware updates:

sudo fwupdmgr get-devices
sudo fwupdmgr get-updates
sudo fwupdmgr update

Reboot before proceeding any further:

sudo reboot now

Improve Font Rendering

The default font rendering in Pop!_OS may appear blurry on LCD monitors. Gnome's OS settings application lacks the ability to change font rendering. You must install the Gnome Tweak Tool to adjust these settings. Gnome Tweak Tool can be installed from the Pop!_Shop or from a terminal as shown below:

1. Run sudo apt install gnome-tweaks
2. Run gnome-tweaks
3. Fonts > Hinting > Set to "Full"
4. Fonts > Antialiasing > Set to "Subpixel (for LCD screens)"

The Pop!_OS defaults are: "Slight" for Hinting and "Standard" for Antialiasing, in case you want to switch back.

Increase the inotify watch count

When working with Dropbox, React, and NodeJS, you may run into the following error: "User limit of inotify watches reached". The default limit for file watchers is 8,192. Increase this limit to something more reasonable:

1. Run sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf
2. Add fs.inotify.max_user_watches=10000000 to the bottom of the file
3. Run sudo sysctl -p (or restart the OS)

Tilix

Tilix may be preferable to the default Gnome terminal:

sudo apt install tilix

Z Shell (ZSH)

Instructions derived from https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/wiki/Installing-ZSH on 2024-02-18

ZSH can be installed by running:

sudo apt install zsh

Run zsh --version and look for zsh 5.8.1 (x86_64-ubuntu-linux-gnu) (or newer) to verify success

To set zsh as the default shell, run:

chsh -s $(which zsh)

Start a new session. ZSH is now your default shell.

Optional: Install Oh-My-ZSH for ZSH configuration management

Oh-My-ZSH is an excellent tool for managing your ZSH configuration. Install it using the following command:

sh -c "$(wget -O- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

An "Oh My Zsh!... is now installed!" message should appear in the terminal output.

You may be prompted to set ZSH as your default shell.

Optional: Enable ZSH syntax highlighting

Install syntax highlighting for ZSH by running:

sudo apt install zsh-syntax-highlighting

Now run:

echo "source /usr/share/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh" >> ~/.zshrc

The changes will be applied to new terminal windows.

Optional: Change ZSH theme using Oh-My-ZSH

Oh-My-ZSH is installed with several themes. Let's change the default theme to blinks by first opening the .zshrc file:

sudo gedit ~/.zshrc

Find the line ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell" and change it to ZSH_THEME="blinks" and save. The new theme will be applied to new terminal windows.

Optional: Enable ZSH plugins

Plugins add functionality to ZSH. Let's enable some pre-installed plugins for a few programming languages. First, open the .zshrc file:

sudo gedit ~/.zshrc

Find the line plugins=(git) and change it to include your preferred plugins. An example:

plugins=(git dotnet rust golang mvn npm terraform aws gradle)

Save the file. The plugins will be applied to new terminal windows.

Install Eclipse for Java Developers

1. From the desktop, select Activities (top-left corner of your monitor) > Pop!_Shop
2. Search for "Eclipse" and install "Eclipse for Java Developers"
3. Launch Eclipse

Alternatively, run the following command to install Eclipse from a terminal:

flatpak install flathub org.eclipse.Java

Install JetBrains products (Rider, GoLand, IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate, etc)

The instructions for installing JetBrains products are derived from https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/installation-guide.html#toolbox and are current as of 2024-03-09

1. Visit https://www.jetbrains.com/toolbox/app/ and download the JetBrains Toolbox app.
2. Run the following commands, replacing the file name in the example with the file name you downloaded:

sudo tar -xzf jetbrains-toolbox-2.2.2.20062.tar.gz -C /opt
cd /opt/jetbrains-toolbox-2.2.2.20062
./jetbrains-toolbox

3. Select the product that you want to install.

Install Postman

Postman is a complete toolchain for API developers. It can be installed in one of three ways. The easiest is to open the Pop!_Shop and install Postman using the GUI.

Installing Postman from Pop!_Shop installs from Flathub.

You may alternatively install Postman from Flathub using a terminal session.

flatpak install flathub com.getpostman.Postman

Install Visual Studio Code

The instructions for installing Visual Studio Code are derived from https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux and are current as of 2024-02-19

1. Run the following commands:

sudo apt-get 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
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'
rm -f packages.microsoft.gpg
sudo apt install apt-transport-https
sudo apt update
sudo apt install code

2. Launch Visual Studio Code
3. Navigate File > Preferences > Settings and then type "telemetry"
4. Select "off" for the Telemetry Level
5. Disable the "Dotnet Acquisition Extension: Enable Telemetry" option
6. Optional: While still in Settings, change the following to "False":
   1. Enable Natural Language Search
   2. Enable Experiments
7. Optional: While still in Settings, enable Editor: Format on Save. Turning this setting on is the same as running the Format Document command each time you save a file.
8. Optional: While Visual Studio Code is open, select Activities, right-click the Visual Studio Code icon on the dock, and select Add to favorites.

While you can install Visual Studio Code from flathub via the Pop!_Shop, doing so will result in problems finding development tools like the .NET SDK. The .deb package in Pop!_Shop is also many versions out-of-date. The process outlined above resolves both issues.

The following VS Code extensions are handy:

1. C# Dev Kit - syntax highlighting, debugging, test runner support, and intellisense for C#
2. Rust (rls) - Rust language server
3. CodeLLDB - for debugging Rust code on Ubuntu
4. Extension Pack for Java - syntax highlighting, debugging, and intellisense for Java, plus unit testing support
5. Spring Boot Extension Pack - specific enhancements for working with Spring Boot
6. VS Live Share - allows simultaneous editing of code files by multiple authors, like Google Docs
7. Docker
8. JavaScript Debugger for Chrome
9. Python
10. Go
11. ESLint
12. TSLint
13. Prettier

There are some excellent dark theme alternatives to the VS Code default theme:

1. One Monokai Theme
2. Atom One Dark Theme
3. Material Theme
4. Blueberry Dark Theme
5. Arc+ Theme
6. Arc Darker Theme

Java and Maven

sudo apt install openjdk-17-jdk-headless maven

Run javac -version and look for the following output to verify success:

openjdk version "11.0.10" 2021-01-19
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.10+9-Ubuntu-0ubuntu1.20.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.10+9-Ubuntu-0ubuntu1.20.04, mixed mode, sharing)

Go

Instructions for installing Go taken from https://go.dev/doc/install on 2024-02-18

While you can install Go via apt, doing so installs an oudated version. Run the following commands instead, ensuring you replace the version number in the commands below with the version number you want to install. These are also the same commands you will use to update Go to a newer version.

curl -OL https://golang.org/dl/go1.22.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sha256sum go1.22.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go
sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.22.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Run the following command to verify success:

go version

Look for go version go1.22.1 linux/amd64 (or newer) to verify success.

Set the following environment variables if this is the first time you're installing Go. You do not need to repeat this step if you're upgrading Go.

echo "export PATH=$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin:/usr/local/go/bin" >> ~/.profile
source ~/.profile

Delve is a debugger for Go. You can install it by running the following command:

go install github.com/go-delve/delve/cmd/dlv@v1.22.1

Run the following command to check that dlv is installed and you're on an up-to-date version:

dlv version

You should see the following after running dlv version:

Delve Debugger
Version: 1.22.1
Build: $Id: 0c3470054da6feac5f6dcf3e3e5144a64f7a9a48

Rust

Instructions for installing Rust taken from https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install on 2024-02-18

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.3 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Restart your terminal session, or run source "$HOME/.cargo/env", and then run rustc --version. Look for rustc 1.76.0 (07dca489a 2024-02-04) (or newer) to verify success.

To update Rust:

rustup update

Python

sudo apt install python3-minimal

Run python3 --version and look for Python 3.8.5 (or newer) to verify success

To install Anaconda Python instead, see https://linuxhint.com/install_anaconda_python_ubuntu_1804/.

NodeJS

The quick way to install NodeJS 20 (LTS):

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash - &&\
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Run node --version to verify success.

.NET Core

sudo apt install dotnet-sdk-8.0

Run dotnet --list-sdks and look for the following output to verify success:

8.0.102 [/usr/lib/dotnet/sdk]

Optional: Disable .NET Core telemetry

1. Run gedit ~/.profile
2. Type export DOTNET_CLI_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT=true at the bottom of the file
3. Save and exit
4. Log out and log in again

Docker Desktop

The instructions for installing Docker Desktop are derived from https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/linux-install/ and are current as of 2024-02-18

Docker Desktop can now be installed on Linux. It provides the same functionality as Docker Desktop on macOS and Windows and includes a single-node Kubernetes cluster. It is recommended to either install Docker Desktop or install Docker on Linux, but not both (though both can be present simultaneously).

This guide has been updated to focus on installing Docker Desktop.

You may not want to install Docker Desktop if you are running Pop!_OS in a virtual machine, as Docker Desktop installs its own virtual machine; this would be virtualization-within-virtualization and may cause problems. You'd alternatively want to consider installing Docker on Linux directly without "Docker Desktop". This is the traditional way Docker has been installed on Linux. Older versions of this guide describe how this can be done. See /older-versions.

There is no repository for installing Docker Desktop.

1. Download the .deb package from https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/ubuntu/.
2. Run sudo apt-get install ./docker-desktop-<version>-<arch>.deb
3. Either open the Docker Desktop app that was installed, or run systemctl --user start docker-desktop

Verify success by running docker --version. You should see something like the following:

Docker version 25.0.3, build 4debf41

Azure CLI tools

# Get packages needed for the install process:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl apt-transport-https lsb-release gnupg -y

# Download and install the Microsoft signing key:
curl -sL https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc |
    gpg --dearmor |
    sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.gpg > /dev/null

# Add the Azure CLI software repository:
AZ_REPO=$(lsb_release -cs)
echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/azure-cli/ $AZ_REPO main" |
    sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/azure-cli.list

# Update repository information and install the azure-cli package:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install azure-cli

Verify success by running az --version and checking that azure-cli 2.21.0 (or newer) appears somewhere in the output. Additionally, the output should indicate that Your CLI is up-to-date.

See Install Azure CLI with apt for further information.

Azure Storage Explorer

Azure's desktop app for interacting with Azure Storage is cross-platform. It is available in the Pop!_Shop via FlatHub. Installing it on an Ubuntu-based distribution can also be done in the terminal as follows:

flatpak install flathub com.microsoft.AzureStorageExplorer

AWS CLI tools

The following script installs v2 of the AWS CLI tools:

sudo apt install -y unzip
curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
sudo ./aws/install

Run aws --version and check for aws-cli/2.1.34 Python/3.8.8 Linux/4.4.0-19041-Microsoft exe/x86_64.ubuntu.20 prompt/off to verify success.

See https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-cliv2-linux.html for additional information.

Kubernetes CLI tools (kubectl)

Instructions derived from https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl-linux/ on 2024-02-18

You may not need to follow these commands to install kubectl if you installed Docker Desktop. Run kubectl version to see if it's already installed. If not, follow the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl
# If the folder `/etc/apt/keyrings` does not exist, it should be created before the curl command, read the note below.
# sudo mkdir -p -m 755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.29/deb/Release.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg
echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.29/deb/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y kubectl

Run kubectl version to verify success.

GitHub CLI tools

The instructions for installing GitHub CLI tools are derived from https://github.com/cli/cli/blob/trunk/docs/install_linux.md and are current as of 2024-02-18

type -p curl >/dev/null || (sudo apt update && sudo apt install curl -y)
curl -fsSL https://cli.github.com/packages/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg | sudo dd of=/usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg \
&& sudo chmod go+r /usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg \
&& echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg] https://cli.github.com/packages stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/github-cli.list > /dev/null \
&& sudo apt update \
&& sudo apt install gh -y

Git configuration

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email yourname@yourdomain.com

See Customizing Git Configuration for more details. You can edit the global Git config file by running gedit ~/.gitconfig in a terminal window.

Tip: Remember that you can include a longer commit message by using a second -m in your command. Example: git commit -m "The short message, best ~50 characters" -m "The extended description that can go on however long you want."

SSH Keys for GitHub/GitLab

The instructions for generating SSH keys is derived from https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/generating-a-new-ssh-key-and-adding-it-to-the-ssh-agent. Instructions for adding an SSH key to GitHub is derived from https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/adding-a-new-ssh-key-to-your-github-account. Both are current as of 2024-02-18

1. Run ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"
2. Enter a passphrase
3. Run ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
4. Run cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
5. Copy the output from cat and paste it into GitLab and GitHub's SSH key sections for your profile
6. Run ssh -T git@github.com to verify the key is recognized and working with GitHub.com
7. Run ssh -T git@gitlab.com to verify the key is recognized and working with GitLab

GPG Keys for signing commits

Taken from https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/repository/gpg_signed_commits/index.html.

1. Run gpg --full-gen-key
2. Choose "RSA and RSA (default)"
3. Choose 4096 bits
4. Choose 2y (or a timeframe of your choosing)
5. Provide the other required inputs
6. Run gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG mr@robot.sh (replace mr@robot.sh with the email you used previously)
7. Copy the GPG key ID that starts with sec. E.g. in sec rsa4096/30F2B65B9246B6CA 2017-08-18 [SC], the key ID is 30F2B65B9246B6CA
8. Run gpg --armor --export 30F2B65B9246B6CA
9. Run git config --global user.signingkey 30F2B65B9246B6CA
10. Add the key to your GitHub account

To sign commits, the only difference is the addition of the -S flag:

git commit -S -m "My commit msg"

VLC for media playback

sudo apt install -y vlc
sudo apt install -y libavcodec-extra libdvd-pkg
sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg

Other Items in Pop!_Shop to consider installing:

1. Dropbox
2. Slack
3. Spotify
4. VirtualBox
5. Zoom
6. Microsoft Teams
7. VLC - for playing media files
8. Peek - for recording your screen and producing animated GIFs
9. GNU Image Manipulation Program
10. Htop
11. Bleachbit - for secure file erasure and general disk cleanup

Firefox

1. Install the React Developer Tools addon
2. Preferences > Search > Change the search engine to "DuckDuckGo" (or your preferred engine)
3. Preferences > Privacy > Change tracking and protection settings as-needed

Optional: Enable DNS over HTTPS

1. Navigate to Edit > Settings
2. In the Privacy & Security tab, scroll down to Enable DNS over HTTPS and select Max Protection
3. Select "Cloudflare" as the provider

Optional: Force GPU rendering to smooth out page scrolling

Firefox in Gnome can experience screen tearing and other performance-inhibiting behavior. This may be adjustable by forcing GPU rendering, though it may impact power usage and stability. This has only been tested using NVIDIA GPUs.

1. Navigate to about:config in the Firefox URL bar
2. Select Accept the Risk and Continue
3. Copy and paste layers.acceleration.force-enabled into the search box and Enable it
4. Copy and paste layers.force-active into the search box and Enable it
5. Restart Firefox and observe smoother scrolling behavior

Chromium

1. From the desktop, select Activities (top-left corner of your monitor) > Pop!_Shop
2. Search for "Chromium Browser" and install it
3. Navigate to https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions and search for "React Developer Tools"
4. Add the React Developer Tools to Chromium

Optional: Change Chromium's privacy settings

1. In Chromium, press the "..." button at the top-right corner of the Chromium window to bring up the options menu
2. Settings > Search Engine > Set to "Duck Duck Go" (or your preferred engine)
3. Settings > Advanced > Privacy & Security >
   1. Allow Chromium sign-in > Disable
   2. Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar > Disable
   3. Use a web service to help resolve navigation errors > Disable
   4. Send a "Do Not Track" request with your browsing traffic > Enable
   5. Allow sites to check if you have payment methods saved > Disable
   6. Content Settings >
      1. Cookies > Block third-party cookies > Enable
      2. Location > Block
      3. Microphone > Block
      4. Camera > Block
      5. Flash > Set to "Block sites from running Flash"
      6. Clipboard > Set to "Do not allow sites to see text and images copied to the clipboard"
      7. Payment Handlers > Set to "Do not allow any site to install payment handlers"

FYI: How to configure VS Code for Chromium JavaScript debugging

Visual Studio Code can launch Google Chrome in JavaScript debug mode so developers can do useful things like set breakpoints and inspect JavaScript variables at runtime. However, Microsoft's official guidance on how to configure the Chrome Debugger only works with Chrome and not Chromium.

Google Chrome is a commercial, closed-source product. It's based on the open source Chromium project. If you'd like to use Chromium for JavaScript debugging instead of Chrome, you can still follow Microsoft's guide. You'll just need to add a runtimeExecutable property to the launch.json file in your web app's .vscode directory. Just make sure it points to where chromium-browser is installed. If you installed Chromium from the Pop!_Store then it should be located at /usr/bin/chromium-browser.

The launch.json file will automatically be created if you follow along with Microsoft's how-to guide.

The launch.json file needed to debug using Chromium is shown below:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "type": "chrome",
      "request": "launch",
      "name": "Launch Chrome against localhost",
      "url": "http://localhost:3000",
      "webRoot": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "runtimeExecutable": "/usr/bin/chromium-browser"
    }
  ]
}

Installing and Enabling Themes

Some themes are available in the central repos. For instance, to install the excellent Arc theme, simply run sudo apt install arc-theme. "Arc-Dark" is then available as a theme in Gnome Tweak Tool.

More themes are available for download on pling.com. For these, extra steps are required to install:

1. Create folders for the themes and icons:

mkdir ~/.themes
mkdir ~/.icons

2. Download a Gnome theme from Pling to your Downloads folder. (We'll use the WhiteSur GTK theme)
3. Extract the contents of the .tar.xz to the .themes folder
4. Download a Gnome icon theme from Pling to your Downloads folder. (We'll use the Big Sur Icon Theme)
5. Extract the contents of the .tar.xz to the .icons folder
6. Open the Gnome Tweak Tool
7. Navigate to the Extensions tab
8. Enable User Themes
9. Navigate to the Apperance tab
10. Select "White Sur-Dark" under Themes > Applications
11. Close Gnome Tweak Tool

Installing Fonts

Install the Font Manager application:

sudo apt install font-manager

Let's install Red Hat's free Overpass font. It can be downloaded or cloned: https://github.com/RedHatOfficial/Overpass.

Open Font Manager and press the + button to add a new font. Navigate to the extracted ZIP file (or cloned git repo) and import either the OTF or TTF files, whichever you prefer.

Open Gnome Tweak Tool and open the Fonts tab. Select "Overpass" from the Interface Text drop-down list. The changes should be visible immediately.

Some custom fonts, including "Overpass", may look better with Hinting set to "None".

VirtualBox

1. From the desktop, select Activities (top-left corner of your monitor) > Pop!_Shop
2. Search for "VirtualBox" and install it

To allow USB pass-through to a guest OS in VirtualBox:

1. Run sudo adduser $USER vboxusers
2. Log out and in again

KVM + QEMU + VirtManager

Instructions derived from https://ubuntu.com/blog/kvm-hyphervisor?ref=itsfoss.com and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgZHbCDFODk

An alternative to VirtualBox is to use Linux's built-in Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) plus QEMU and VirtManager for a GUI front-end.

sudo apt -y install bridge-utils cpu-checker libvirt-clients libvirt-daemon qemu qemu-kvm virt-manager

Check that your processor supports virtualization:

kvm-ok

Look for:

INFO: /dev/kvm exists
KVM acceleration can be used

Add the current user to the kvm group, being sure to replace yourusername with your actual user name:

sudo usermod -aG libvirt yourusername
sudo usermod -aG kvm yourusername

Restart your system and then run these commands:

sudo systemctl start libvirtd
sudo systemctl enable libvirtd

Create a new VM using virt-manager

1. Download a Pop!_OS ISO or the ISO of your choice
2. Place the .iso file into the /var/lib/libvirt/images folder
3. Open the Virtual Machine Manager (aka virt-manager)
4. Add a new virtual machine. Note that if you get a connection error, you should reboot your machine.
5. Select Local install media and then Forward. Step 2 of 5 appears.
6. Select Browse. The ISO you copied into the /var/lib/libvirt/images folder should appear.
7. Select the ISO and choose Choose Volume
8. You may need to select an operating system. if Virtual Machine Manager couldn't auto-detect one based on the ISO. In our case, if using Pop!_OS 22.04, select "Ubuntu 22.04 LTS"
9. Select Forward
10. Choose at least "8192" for memory and 2 CPUs and then select Forward
11. Choose at least 25 GB of disk storage and select Forward
12. Use a distinctive name for the VM, such as "K3s-pop-os" and select Finish
13. The VM should start automatically. Go through the VM setup process.

Run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y after OS configuration.

Taking VM snapshots in virt-manager

Snapshots can be taken in virt-manager just like in Virtual Box. You must navigate into the VM window (not the Virtual Machine Manager window) and select the Manage VM Snapshots icon at the far right of the toolbar.

Set up and connect to MySQL Server running in Docker

Instructions derived from https://hub.docker.com/_/mysql using MySQL 8.3.0 and are current as of 2024-03-11

One can run MySQL Server in a Docker container rather than installing MySQL locally. Start a MySQL Docker container by running the following two commands:

docker network create -d bridge my-bridge-network
docker run --network my-bridge-network -p 3306:3306 --name go-test-mysql -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=my-secret-pw -d mysql:latest

The -p 3306:3306 is what allows you to connect to this MySQL container from the host system, such as what you might do when developing an app.

Next, start a second MySQL container that connects to the first:

docker run -it --network my-bridge-network --rm mysql mysql -hgo-test-mysql -uroot -pmy-secret-pw

You should now see a mysql> prompt. Type exit to return to the terminal. Exiting destroys this second container, so to get another MySQL prompt you will need to re-run the above command. This is a nice way to query the MySQL database without needing to install MySQL command line tools.

An empty database server is probably not that handy. To load a .sql database into the first MySQL container, named go-test-mysql in the commands above, you can issue the command below. Replace the /home/your-username/databases/data.sql path with an actual path to a .sql file on your file system.

docker exec -i go-test-mysql sh -c 'exec mysql -uroot -p"my-secret-pw"' < /home/your-username/databases/data.sql

Now run the second Docker container again using the same command as before:

docker run -it --network my-bridge-network --rm mysql mysql -hgo-test-mysql -uroot -pmy-secret-pw

You should once again see a mysql> prompt.

1. Enter SELECT DATABASE(); to see what database(s) are in your server.
2. Enter use yourdatabasename to open a database from the list, replacing yourdatabasename with the name of one of the databases listed in the output of the previous step.
3. Enter SHOW TABLES(); to see what tables exist in this database.

You can now run SELECT and other queries against the database. Be sure to end all of your commands with a ;.

Here's an example of how you can connect to this database and test the connection in a simple GoLang app:

package main

import (
	"database/sql"
	"fmt"
	"log"

	"github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql"
)

var db *sql.DB

func main() {
	dsn := mysql.Config{
		User:   "root",
		Passwd: "my-secret-pw",
		Net:    "tcp",
		Addr:   "127.0.0.1:3306",
		DBName: "yourdatabasename",
	}

	var err error
	db, err = sql.Open("mysql", dsn.FormatDSN())
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	defer db.Close()

	pingErr := db.Ping()
	if pingErr != nil {
		log.Fatal(pingErr)
	} else {
		fmt.Println("Connected!")
	}
}

Set up and connect to MariaDB Server running in Docker

Instructions derived from https://hub.docker.com/_/mariadb using MariaDB 11.4.1 and are current as of 2024-03-11

One can run MariaDB in a Docker container rather than installing MariaDB locally. Start a Maria Docker container by running the following two commands:

docker network inspect my-bridge-network >/dev/null 2>&1 || docker network create --driver bridge my-bridge-network
docker run --detach --name some-mariadb --network my-bridge-network -p 3306:3306 --env MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=my-secret-pw  mariadb:latest

The -p 3306:3306 is what allows you to connect to this MariaDB container from the host system, such as what you might do when developing an app.

Next, start a second MariaDB container that connects to the first:

docker run -it --network my-bridge-network --rm mariadb mariadb -hsome-mariadb -uroot -pmy-secret-pw

You should now see a MariaDB [(none)]> prompt. Type \s and press Enter to verify success. Type exit to return to the terminal.