Linux Mint + How To Install Netbeans IDE From Source Without Using ‘apt-get’ Or Synaptic Package Manager

ASSUMPTION:

• You are using a linux distro as your main Operating System. While in this example I used Linux Mint 10 Julia, the same steps could be applied to any Ubuntu or Debian based linux distro
• You are not afraid of using your Bash Terminal Shell (this is one of those candies that makes Linux rock anyway)
• You know how to install Java JVM / Linux Mint 10 already has it installed for you during its installion (how cool is that? :p )

Aim Of This Guide

• To install Netbeans IDE (at this time of writing, the latest one is Netbeans 6.9.1) from the source package, that is from the .sh source file.

Other Means Of Installing Netbeans

• ‘apt-get‘ command, it might be as simple as executing the statement ‘sudo apt-get install netbeans’ on your Terminal
• The user-friendly (GUI) Synaptic Package Manager

But in this guide, we will not look at those two methods, they are mentioned as additional info.

Step By Step – How To Install From Source File: ‘netbeans-X-ml-php-linux.sh’

1) Download the netbeans php idea source from the Official Netbeans Download Site

The file looks something like: netbeans-6.9.1-ml-php-linux.sh

version 6.9.1 being the latest version at the time of this writing

2) Pre-Requirements: Install Java JVM

Netbeans is an application which runs on top of the Java JVM. So it is imperative to install Java BEFORE you install netbeans.

Luckily for Linux Mint 10 Julia users, this distro when installed, does have Java installed by default which is great! We are ready for the next Step

3) Open your Bash Terminal

4) Change Directory to where you downloaded the netbeans installation file.

Example:

Let’s say I have my netbeans .sh file in ~Desktop/download/netbeans/netbeans-6.9.1-ml-php-linux.sh

$ cd Desktop/download/netbeans/

5) Make the netbeans .sh executable. Yep, the downloaded file is a read-only.

$ sudo chmod +x netbeans-6.9.1-ml-php-linux.sh

6) To execute it, simply do:

$ ./netbeans-6.9.1-ml-php-linux.sh

7) Bingo, a graphical window pops up 🙂 Click on Run and Follow the steps indicated in the GUI, it’s quite straight-forward hereon.. have fun! 😉

If you have any issues, feel free to ask using the comment form below..