Bootstrapping My Linux Desktop and MacBook for Dev Work

After transitioning through two new jobs recently, I had the opportunity (and challenge) to set up fresh dev environments on both a Linux desktop and a MacBook. Here’s my comprehensive checklist and setup notes, including tooling, config files, and references I found useful.

Software Setup

1. Docker Desktop

• Mac:
  Install Docker Desktop for Mac
• Linux:

  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install docker.io
  sudo systemctl enable --now docker
  sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
  

2. Visual Studio Code

• Mac/Linux:
  Download from https://code.visualstudio.com/

3. IntelliJ IDEA

• Mac/Linux:
  Download from https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/
  Or use JetBrains Toolbox.

4. Slack

• Mac:
  Download from https://slack.com/downloads/mac
• Linux:

  sudo snap install slack --classic
  

5. GitHub Copilot

• Install the GitHub Copilot plugin in:
• VS Code
• IntelliJ

6. Homebrew for Mac

Install only if you are using it for terraform, npm, or jq.

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

7. Kubectl

• Mac:

  curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl"
  chmod +x kubectl
  sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/
  

• Linux:

  curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
  chmod +x kubectl
  sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/
  

8. Java (OpenJDK)

• Mac:
  Download OpenJDK DMG from https://jdk.java.net/
• Linux:

  sudo apt install openjdk-17-jdk
  

9. Python

• Mac:
  Download official installer from https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/
• Linux:

  sudo apt install python3 python3-pip
  

10. Terraform

brew tap hashicorp/tap
brew install hashicorp/tap/terraform

Terraform Install Guide

11. npm (via Node.js)

brew install node

Node.js Docs

12. jq

• Mac:

  brew install jq
  

• Linux:

  sudo apt install jq
  

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Configuration Files

1. AWS Config

Set Up AWS CLI

Mac

curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/AWSCLIV2.pkg" -o "AWSCLIV2.pkg"
sudo installer -pkg AWSCLIV2.pkg -target /

Linux

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

Install Docs

Set up AWS config and credential

aws configure

follow the prompt:

AWS Access Key ID [None]: YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: YOUR_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
Default region name [None]: us-east-1
Default output format [None]: json

2. Kubeconfig

Copy your kubeconfig to:

~/.kube/config

Or use:

export KUBECONFIG=/path/to/kubeconfig.yaml

3. GitHub SSH

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com"
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Then add the public key to your GitHub account:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub