A basic script to configure my development environment on a new Ubuntu machine.

setup.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
# A basic script to configure a new personal machine and my development environment.
# Install: wget -q https://gist.github.com/dideler/6605525/raw/a5e83789254ee4c01937905a7398300386d2dd30/setup.sh -O - | sh
#
# Note that some stuff I use, such as fish, are typically installed via binaries.
#
# Don't forget to enable virtual desktops and two finger reverse scrolling!
# http://askubuntu.com/questions/260510/how-do-i-turn-on-workspaces-why-do-i-only-have-one-workspace-in-13-04
# http://askubuntu.com/questions/91426/reverse-two-finger-scroll-direction

# Remove Desktop name from Unity panel. Will take effect after you log out and back in.
echo -e 'msgid "Ubuntu Desktop"\nmsgstr " "' > /tmp/remove_desktop_name.po
pushd /usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES
sudo msgfmt -o unity.mo /tmp/remove_desktop_name.po
popd

# Set focus to follow mouse (instead of click)
# http://askubuntu.com/questions/64605/how-do-i-set-focus-follows-mouse
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences focus-mode 'sloppy'
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences auto-raise-delay 500
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences raise-on-click true

# Add repositories
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nesthib/weechat
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chris-lea/node.js
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:caffeine-developers/ppa
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:fish-shell/release-2

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential git curl python-pip xclip vlc \
                        ubuntu-restricted-extras unity-tweak-tool \
                        python-software-properties python g++ make automake \
                        aptitude weechat nodejs tree caffeine fish
# Installing python-pip will also install python-setuptools.
# ubuntu-restricted-extras is to play non-free media formats.

# Configure weechat using /set command (no args shows all options) or edit ~/.weechat/*.conf files.
# In weechat:
#   /script install notify.py
#   /script autoload notify.py
#   /set irc.look.smart_filter on
#   /filter add irc_smart * irc_smart_filter *


sudo chown -R whoami ~/.npm  # Reclaim ownership to avoid sudoing every time.

# Install libdvdcss to play DVDs (TODO: automatically detect if DVD-drive exists)
# sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

# Install geturl
sudo curl https://raw.github.com/uams/geturl/master/geturl -o /usr/local/bin/geturl
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/geturl

# Remove junk
sudo apt-get autoremove unity-lens-shopping unity-scope-video-remote unity-scope-musicstores empathy

# Install Python packages
sudo pip install --upgrade pip setuptools virtualenv virtualenvwrapper dotfiles
# Some handy packages that shouldn't be installed system-wide: sphinx pep8 httpie colorama requests

# Install Heroku toolbelt
wget -qO- https://toolbelt.heroku.com/install-ubuntu.sh | sh
heroku login # Prompts email and password

# Install dotfiles
cd $HOME
mkdir github && cd github
git clone https://github.com/dideler/dotfiles
dotfiles --sync

# TODO: install redshift

# Create todo script
sudo echo -e '#!/bin/sh\nset -e\ntouch ~/Desktop/"$*"' > /usr/local/bin/todo
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/todo

echo 'Rebooting...'
sudo reboot

Should I install packages that are available from non-system package managers (e.g. npm, gem, pip) here? Might be better to do in something like a fish script...

This gist is deprecated. Instead check out https://github.com/dideler/setup-ubuntu