Setting Up a Java Development Environment on Ubuntu

August 29, 2016

On GNU/Linux, I suggest using the OpenJDK, a free implementation of Java, and IntelliJ, so this guide will use both.

First Steps

Getting a Compatible Release

You’ll need to install (or upgrade to) a recent release of Ubuntu to install Java 8. 14.04, for instance, has only Java 7. As the time of writing, 16.04 LTS is the most recent, so I’d suggest that.

If you have an earlier release installed, run:

$ sudo do-release-upgrade

Otherwise, download Ubuntu 16.04 (or a later release) from the download page and install it.

Updating the Package Cache & Packages

To ensure we don’t have a stale package list or out-of-date packages:

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

This isn’t really necessary, but it won’t hurt.

OpenJDK

In a shell, install the OpenJDK and optionally OpenJFX:

$ sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk openjfx

IntelliJ

Unfortunately, IntelliJ is not packaged in Ubuntu, so you’ll need to download the tarball directly from JetBrains at the IntelliJ download page. Choose the Community edition; Ultimate, the nonfree edition with additional features, costs money.

Create an installation directory in your homedir. I chose ~/bin/intellij:

$ mkdir -p ~/bin/intellij

Then extract the tarball you downloaded from the downloads page into the install directory:

$ tar xf ~/Downloads/ideaIC-*.tar.gz -C ~/bin/intellij

Now, run the install script:

$ cd ~/bin/intellij/idea-IC-*/bin/
$ ./idea.sh

IntelliJ should start up. If it doesn’t create application menu shortcuts on its own, you tell it to create them by choosing “Tools” → “Create Desktop Entry…” in the top menu.