Initial Debian-based Linux Setup for a Minimalist Programmer

sudo Command

Ubuntu and its derivatives already add the initial user in the SUDO group, but Debian requires us to explicitly add the user to the sudo group. This is how it is done:

$ su -
  # usermod -aG sudo username
  # exit

Logout and login to the changes take effect.

Install Dropbox

Dependency:

$ sudo apt install python3-gpg
$ sudo apt install libappindicator3-1

Install Git

$ sudo apt install git

Install zsh and oh-my-zsh

$ sudo apt install zsh
$ sh -c "$(wget https://raw.github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh -O -)"

Install VSCode and Zed

VS Code still have more features and more support for different technologies. That's why it is still required. So, here is how I installed it:

$ cat /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches
$ sudo vi /etc/sysctl.conf 
      fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288
$ sudo sysctl --system

Zed is slowly becoming my favorite IDE, specially because of its performance and usage of the GPU. The installation is easier:

curl -f https://zed.dev/install.sh | sh

Install Rust

First, install the basic requirements for rustup:

$ sudo apt install build-essential
$ sudo apt install curl

Now, intall rustup, the tool that manages Rust installation:

$ curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

  This will download and install the official compiler for the Rust
  programming language, and its package manager, Cargo.

  Rustup metadata and toolchains will be installed into the Rustup
  home directory, located at:

    /home/[username]/.rustup

  This can be modified with the RUSTUP_HOME environment variable.

  The Cargo home directory is located at:

    /home/[username]/.cargo

  This can be modified with the CARGO_HOME environment variable.

  The cargo, rustc, rustup and other commands will be added to
  Cargo's bin directory, located at:

    /home/[username]/.cargo/bin

  This path will then be added to your PATH environment variable by
  modifying the profile files located at:

    /home/[username]/.profile
    /home/[username]/.bashrc
    /home/[username]/.zshenv

  You can uninstall at any time with rustup self uninstall and
  these changes will be reverted.

[reopen]

$ cargo --version

From time to time, update your Rust installation:

$ rustup update
$ rustup toolchain install stable

Install Go

$ sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go
$ sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.26.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
[reopen]
$ go version

Install PostgreSQL

$ sudo apt install postgresql

Install Claude Code

$ curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
$ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc && source ~/.zshrc