Developer Workstation Setup Script Debian Edition

This guide provides instructions for setting up a developer workstation using Debian 13 "Trixie" (currently unreleased, but in hard freeze). The Ansible playbook automates the installation of software and configurations.

While the software and setup choices are mainly aimed towards developers, it is also suitable for general use.

Installation

Before running the playbook, follow these steps to install Debian:

Installing Debian 13

You can use the testing installer until Trixie is released this August:

https://cdimage.debian.org/images/daily-builds/daily/current/amd64/iso-cd/debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso

Note

• Do not provide any details for the root account, your user account will then have administrative rights.
• Leave Gnome as the default desktop environment.
• If you installed from a DVD ISO use the Software & Updates application or the terminal to remove cdrom from /etc/apt/sources.list. Look in Other Software:

Setting up Debian

1. Open the terminal and run the following command to install Ansible, git, and Flatpak:

   sudo apt install ansible git flatpak

2. Clone this repository and navigate to it:

   git clone https://github.com/David-Else/developer-workstation-setup-script-debian
   cd developer-workstation-setup-script-debian

3. Customize the software selection by modifying packages.yml according to your preferences.

4. Run the main installation playbook:

   ansible-playbook ./install-playbook.yml -K

Note

When prompted for the BECOME password in Ansible, enter your user password. Your account must have administrative privileges.

You can add --check for a test run or --diff, -vv to see more info.

5. To enable the preview feature in the nnn file manager, run it once with the -a flag to create the FIFO file. Install the plugins with sh -c "$(curl -Ls https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jarun/nnn/master/plugins/getplugs)".

6. Install showmethekey:

   cd extras
   unzip showmethekey-1.12.0-compiled.zip
   cd showmethekey-1.12.0
   sudo ./install-show-me-the-key.sh

7. Install Firefox extensions:

   firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ \
       https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/surfingkeys_ff/ \
       https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/keepassxc-browser/ &

8. Compile tt terminal typing test from source:

   git clone https://github.com/lemnos/tt
   cd tt
   make && sudo make install

9. Change the visudo editor to vim: sudo update-alternatives --config editor

10. Install Rust and AIChat:

    set -o pipefail &&
    curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y &&
    . "$HOME/.cargo/env" &&
    rustup component add rust-analyzer &&
    cargo install aichat --version 0.30.0
    sudo cp ./extras/_aichat /usr/share/zsh/vendor-completions/

11. sudo reboot

Optional Tweaks

Depending on your software selection, hardware, and personal preferences, you may want to make the following changes:

Audio

You can confirm the allowed sample rate settings were changed by the playbook with pw-metadata -n settings and watch the sample rates change per application running pw-top.

Note

More info can be found at: docs.pipewire.org configuration-file-pipewireconf

General

To perform general tweaks, follow these steps:

• Set Helix to open in Kitty sudoedit /usr/share/applications/Helix.desktop:

  Exec=kitty --single-instance hx %F
  Terminal=false

  Or to make Helix open in a tab of a currently running Kitty instance:

  Exec=open-in-kitty-helix %F
  Terminal=false

  open-in-kitty-helix

  #!/bin/bash
  
  FILE="$1"
  
  # If no file is given, treat it as a "new file" with no path
  if [ -z "$FILE" ]; then
      FILE=""
      TITLE="New File"
  else
      TITLE="${FILE##*/}" # basename only
  fi
  
  # Find the first kitty socket in /tmp
  SOCKET_PATH=$(ls /tmp/kitty-* 2>/dev/null | head -1)
  
  # If no socket found, start kitty with hx
  if [ -z "$SOCKET_PATH" ]; then
      kitty hx "$FILE" &
      exit 0
  fi
  
  SOCKET="unix:$SOCKET_PATH"
  
  # Check if kitty is responsive
  if kitty @ --to "$SOCKET" ls >/dev/null 2>&1; then
      # Only check for duplicates if a real file is given
      if [ -n "$FILE" ]; then
          if kitty @ --to "$SOCKET" ls | grep -qF "$FILE"; then
              notify-send "File Already Open" "The file '$FILE' is already open."
              exit 1
          fi
          # Launch hx with the file
          kitty @ --to "$SOCKET" launch --type=tab --title="$TITLE" hx "$FILE"
      else
          # No file: launch hx with no arguments (so it doesn't open '.')
          kitty @ --to "$SOCKET" launch --type=tab --title="$TITLE" hx
      fi
  else
      # Stale socket, remove and start fresh
      rm -f "$SOCKET_PATH"
      if [ -n "$FILE" ]; then
          kitty hx "$FILE" &
      else
          kitty hx &
      fi
  fi

• Configure Git email and name:

  git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
  git config --global user.name "Your Name"

  Enable GPG signing for commits:

  git config --global user.signingkey key
  git config --global commit.gpgsign true

• Install extras:

  gh extension install yusukebe/gh-markdown-preview
  gh extension install dlvhdr/gh-dash
  hx ~/.config/gh-dash/config.yml # diff: "delta"

• sudo apt install v4l2loopback-dkms v4l2loopback-utils for virtual video devices

FAQ

If you get no bootable device found after installing Debian, try https://itsfoss.com/no-bootable-device-found-ubuntu/. Basically, add shimx64.efi as a trusted EFI file to be executed.

Note

Bonus: If you are using Debian as a VM don't forget to install spice-vdagent AND restart to get copy and paste working. It should be installed by default on a Debian 13 guest. You can check it is running with sudo systemctl status spice-vdagent and enable at boot if needed with sudo systemctl enable spice-vdagent.