Ubuntu LOVES Flutter devs

Ubuntu LOVES Flutter devs

Step by step installation of Flutter on an Ubuntu machine

:plotsklapps's photo
:plotsklapps
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4 min read

My ThinkPad X240 (2013) is old and laggy, but I love it. Ubuntu gave it a second life and apparently, Ubuntu LOVES Flutter because the installing part is sooo much easier than on Windows or Mac. This is an article for people that want to get started quickly and for me to just have a reminder online on how to do it.

Open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T):

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt upgrade
$ sudo snap refresh

That should bring your laptop up to date. Stay in the terminal and

Install the Flutter SDK

$ sudo snap install flutter --classic
$ flutter sdk-path

Install additional Linux requirements

$ sudo apt install clang cmake ninja-build pkg-config libgtk-3-dev liblzma-dev

Set up hardware acceleration for the emulator

Don't know what this means? See Android Studio's explanation on why and how HERE.

$ sudo apt install cpu-checker
$ egrep -c '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo
$ kvm-ok
$ sudo apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients bridge-utils

Install Android Studio

I use a snap package for Android Studio, which is at the moment, the Dolphin* version which suits me just fine. The most important reason for me to use snap is that it's 100% plug & play and you don't need to worry about paths, registries, gradles or whatever.

*On May 21, 2023, the Android Studio snap was updated to Flamingo!

$ sudo snap install android-studio --classic

Let's dive in further.

Start Android Studio from your app drawer and follow the installer (do not import settings and just go with standard installation). Install the latest stable SDK Platform:

Install the SDK Tools, just select the ones you see selected here:

Click Apply and then OK.

Plug-in time!

Click plug-ins and install one by one:

  • Flutter

  • Rainbow Brackets

  • Codeglance Pro

  • Atom Material Icons

  • Material Theme

  • Github Copilot (optional)

Restart your IDE and follow the Material Theme wizard -> then CLOSE Android Studio

Finish up

Open a terminal and enter:

$ flutter doctor -v
$ flutter doctor --android-licenses

Done!

Now WAIT. If you're familiar with Flutter & Android Studio, you're done now. But if you want to finish and tweak your setup like I do, follow along! Next up is when you've already used GitHub and/or Flutter and/or Firebase before.

Set up GitHub

  • Open a web browser and sign in to GitHub

  • Click your avatar and choose Settings

  • Go to Developer Settings -> Personal Access Tokens

  • Choose Tokens (classic) -> Generate new token (classic)

  • Enter a note that means something to you (Android Studio Token)

  • Expiration -> No expiration

  • Leave NOTHING unchecked (because why not)

  • Click on 'Generate Token' and copy it -> STORE THIS SOMEWHERE SAFE

Now we let Android Studio know we are real developers with an actual GitHub account.

  • Open Android Studio

  • Click on 'More Actions' -> Get from Version Control

  • Select 'Github' -> Use token -> Paste token and 'Log in'

  • Clone your Flutter repository

  • Trust the project and wait a sec until Android Studio finished loading up

Set up your IDE

  • Click on 'Event log' and do what it says one by one

  • Click your avatar (upper right icon) and sign in to Google

  • Click the three dots left of your avatar and choose Project Structure

  • Set the SDK to the version you downloaded before (it's there in the dropdown)

  • Hit Apply/OK

Last settings

  • Click File -> Settings -> Languages & Frameworks -> Flutter

  • Your Flutter SDK path should be something like /your/path/to/snap/flutter/common/flutter

  • Check the boxes that I checked for more Quality of Life

  • Hit Apply/OK

Download the best Android Studio settings in the world

This is my .zip file that has my personal settings for Android Studio. You can use it as well and download it from HERE. Do not unpack it, just leave it as a .zip file.

  • Click File -> Manage IDE Settings -> Import settings -> AndroidStudioSettings.zip

'TESTING - TESTING - 123'. Open a terminal INSIDE Android Studio

$ flutter pub get

If this works, it means Flutter is set up globally and you can use and do everything you want from inside Android Studio.

Install FlutterFire a.k.a. Firebase CLI

I use Firebase for diagnostics, authenticating users and hosting my Flutter web apps. It's free and easy to use and I wouldn't know one reason to use something else for my little hobby projects. To use this as well, do this:

$ sudo apt install nodejs
$ sudo apt install npm
$ sudo npm install -g firebase-tools
$ firebase login

If you find FlutterFire interesting, I have another blog for you right HERE.

Now go and make something beautiful. Thanks for reading.

FlutterDeveloperLinuxUbuntuAndroid Studio