ubuntu-dev-machine-setup | Ubuntu 24.04 | Linux Mint 22

Description

This repo contains Ansible playbooks to configure your system as a development machine upon a clean install.

The playbooks should run in Debian based system with minor modifications but was only tested with:

• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat)
• Linux Mint 22 (Wilma) (this is what I use personally)

For other versions of Ubuntu, change to the other branches of this git repo. Other versions include Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, 20.04 LTS, 22.04 LTS.

Screenshot above is using bullet-train zsh theme

Screenshot above is using pure zsh theme

Screenshot above is using p10k zsh theme with tmux

---

What gets installed and cofigured?

I am a DevSecOps Engineer and my daily job include working with AWS, docker, ansible, terraform, etc. So if you are in a similar profession the installed system will suit your needs. It is also easy to extend using Ansible roles.

Summary of packages that get installed and configured based on roles:

• role: base
  • mount /tmp on tmpfs (reduce SSD read writes and increase SSD lifespan; no leftover files on system shutdown)
  • set default system editor to vim instead of nano
  • enable ufw firewall and install ufw graphical frontend gufw
  • disable system crash reports
  • tune system swappiness so that swapping is greatly reduced
  • upgrade all packages
  • install archiving tools like zip, rar, etc
  • install libreoffice
  • install foliate, an e-book reader
  • install glow, apostrophe and Obsidian markdown editors
  • install dive, a tool for exploring each layer in a docker image
  • install power management tools like TLP
  • install development related packages like android-tools, awscli, httpie, clusterssh, docker, filezilla, golang, pipenv, etc
  • install nala, an alternative package management tool to apt/apt-get
  • install code fomatters and linters like black, ruff, ansible-lint, etc
  • setup golang directories
  • install download tools like axel, transmission, wget, aria2
  • install image, audio and video packages like vlc, totem, gimp, imagemagick, etc
  • install virtualization tools like virtualbox, docker, docker-compose
  • install and configure ssh server if not set to laptop_mode
  • option to turn on night light settings for eye comfort (set base_permanent_night_light.night_light_enabled to True)
  • enable fzf fuzzy finder in zsh terminal; check out this YouTube video to see how to use it
  • install terminal emulators Tilix and Alacritty
  • install lazygit
• role: zsh
  • install zsh package and set user shell to zsh
  • install antigen zsh plugin manager
  • copy and enable sample ~/.zshrc file if one does not exist
    • contains function to stop ssh-agent from asking for encrypted ssh key password repeatedly when launching new terminal
    • adds additional shell aliases and functions in ~/.shell_aliases and ~/.shell_functions
  • install ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh and enable some bundled plugins
  • enable bullet train zsh theme (others like p10k can be configured as well)
• role: terminal_customizations
  • download and install some nerd fonts from ryanoasis/nerd-fonts; these are mono fonts ideal for use in terminal or programming editors
  • copy and enable sample tilix config file with configured nerd font
  • copy sample alacritty config file
  • copy and enable sample tmux config file if one does not exist
  • copy and enable sample ~/.tmux.conf file with tmux plugin manager and several tmux plugins
    • open Tilix terminal and run tmux command, or enable custom command option in Tilix
    • edit ~/.tmux.conf if necessary
• role: vim
  • install vim packages
  • install amix/vimrc vim distribution
  • create sample vim customization file in ~/.vim_runtime/my_configs.vim
    • additional vim settings are enabled in ~/.vim_runtime/my_configs.vim which are not part of the Vim Distribution. Edit this file if necessary.
• role: neovim
  • install neovim packages
  • install lazyvim neovim distribution
    • open nvim from terminal and let the plugins get installed automatically on the initial launch
• role: vscode
  • add Visual Studio Code apt repo
  • install Visual Studio Code
  • install some popular Visual Studio Code extensions
• role: privacy
  • install tor
  • configure tor to run at boot and prevent using certain countries as exit nodes
    • edit /etc/tor/torrc if necessary
  • install proxychains
  • configure proxychains to use tor. View my Medium story to see how to use it
    • edit /etc/proxychains4.conf if necessary
  • install metadata anonymization toolkit
• role: security
  • install ClamAV (antivirus) and ClamAV GNOME interface. Manual scan from nautilus or from CLI using clamscan; clamd not installed for its huge memory footprint
  • install firejail for sanboxing applications
  • enable additional apparmor profiles
• role: hashicorp
  • install vagrant, terraform, packer
• role: googlechrome
  • add Google Chrome apt repo
  • install Google Chrome

---

Step 0 | Pre-requisites for running the ansible playbooks

On the system which you are going to setup using Ansible, perform these steps.

You need to install ansible and git before running the playbooks. You can either install it using pip or apt.

/usr/bin/sudo apt update
/usr/bin/sudo apt full-upgrade -y
/usr/bin/sudo apt install ansible git -y

And clone this repo (do not clone in /tmp as this dir is cleaned and mounted in tmpfs)

git clone https://github.com/fazlearefin/ubuntu-dev-machine-setup.git
cd ubuntu-dev-machine-setup

Step 1 | Running the playbooks to configure your system

Invoke the following as yourself, the primary user of the system. Do not run as root.

ansible-playbook main.yml -vv -e "{ laptop_mode: True }" -e "local_username=$(id -un)" -K

Enter the sudo password when asked for BECOME password:.

The main.yml playbook will take anything from 15 minutes to an hour to complete.

After all is done, give your laptop a new life by rebooting.

What is this laptop_mode?

Setting this to True

• will install some packages like TLP for battery economy

Setting this to False

• will NOT install some packages like TLP for battery economy

---

Known Issues

• If the ansible playbook halts after completing a few tasks, simply run the playbook again. Since most of the tasks are idempotent, running the playbook multiple times won't break anything.
• If your terminal shows any weird characters because of installing one of the zsh themes, simply change the font to a suitable Nerd Font from the terminal's settings.
• If you do not like the fuzzy finder completions in your terminal, remove or comment out the #fzf lines in your ~/.zshrc (this is not a known issue but a feature)
• When launching the terminal, having some ohmyzsh plugins like docker enabled results in the error: tee: <snip> No such file or directory. You can easily fix this by creating the missing directory manually: mkdir -p ~/.antigen/bundles/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/cache/completions.

---

Pull Requests and Forks

You are more than welcome to send any pull requests. However, the intention of this repo is to suit my development needs. So it might be better if you fork this repo instead for your own needs and personalization.

---

Donations

If you think my work helped you in some way saving you time and effort, I am happy to receive any amount of donation. However, the code in this repo is completely free; absolutely no strings attached.

Bitcoin (BTC): bc1qzlhpm94vtk2ht67etdutzcy2g5an5v6g36tp0m