A crash-course in building out a badass ubuntu dev vm

README.md

Setting up a 64-bit ubuntu vm

VM creation and OS install

1. Create a virtualbox 64bit ubuntu VM.. whatever you need (1024MB RAM and 1 proc work fine for me)
2. Install Ubuntu Natty 11.04 Desktop amd64

Setup environment

1. sudo apt-get update && sudo sudo apt-get upgrade .. make sure all updates are installed.
2. sudo apt-get install git-core git-gui gitk curl build-essential autoconf automake bison screen openssl libreadline6 libreadline6-dev zlib1g zlib1g-dev libssl-dev libyaml-dev libsqlite3-0 libsqlite3-dev sqlite3 libxml2-dev libxslt-dev autoconf libc6-dev ncurses-dev uuid-dev vim-gnome vim-nox exuberant-ctags libnspr4-dev mercurial libasound2-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libnotify-dev libxt-dev libiw-dev mesa-common-dev autoconf2.13 yasm libmozjs-dev cmake-gui codeblocks-dbg codeblocks-contrib codeblocks doxygen
3. sudo apt-get build-dep libsfml
4. mkdir ~/src ~/bin ~/lib ~/include ~/libexec ~/doc ~/share
5. add PATH=$PATH:/home/YOURUSERNAME/bin to the end of your ~/.bashrc
6. Install node, npm and coffee
7. cd src && git clone git://github.com/joyent/node.git
8. cd node .. do a git checkout on the latest stable tag
9. ./configure --prefix=/home/YOURUSERNAME && make && make install
10. curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sh
11. npm install --global coffee-script
12. install rvm and use ree
13. bash < <(curl -s https://rvm.beginrescueend.com/install/rvm)
14. echo '[[ -s "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ]] && . "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" # Load RVM into a shell session *as a function*' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
15. run rvm notes and follow the instructions to install needed packages for MRI on ubuntu (should all be included in Base System Setup step 1 above, but you never know).
16. rvm install ree && rvm use --default ree
17. Do ruby -v to ensure the right version is in use. Should be used globally for sessions by this user from now on.
18. git config --global core.autocrlf false && git config --global user.name "Your Name" && git config --global user.email your@name.com
19. curl https://raw.github.com/carlhuda/janus/master/bootstrap.sh -o - | sh

.screenrc

Here's one to get you started

hardstatus alwayslastline
hardstatus string '%{= kG}[ %{G}%H %{g}][%= %{=kw}%?%-Lw%?%{r}(%{W}%n*%f%t%?(%u)%?%{r})%{w}%?%+Lw%?%?%= %{g}][%{B}%Y-%m-%d %{W}%c %{g}]'

# Default screens
screen -t top top
screen -t src
screen -t src2
screen -t repl bash --rcfile ~/.customrc

Add host shared folder

3. In VM window, in Devices menu, select "Install Guest Additions" (Host+D)
4. sudo mkdir /mnt/cdrom && sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom && sudo /mnt/cdrom/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
5. Add shared folder to wherever on your host and name it 'hostdir'
6. cd ~ && mkdir host
7. sudo vim /etc/fstab and add: hostdir /home/jeff/host vboxsf defaults,rw,uid=1000,gid=100,dmode=1755 0 0 to the end of the file. Save and quit.
8. reboot the vm, ensure there's no error messages (esp. concerning mounting the share folder)

Set up window environment

First, create an ~/.xsession file and fill it with:

gnome-settings-daemon &
nm-applet &
gnome-power-manager &
gnome-volume-manager &
synapse -s &
exec awesome

1. chmod +x ~/.xsession 2 ln -sf /home/YOURUSERNAME/.xsession ~/.xinitrc
2. sudo apt-get install awesome
3. Install synapse via sudo add-apt-repository ppa:synapse-core/ppa && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install synapse
4. Log out and select 'user defined session' and log in