How to install the PyCharm IDE on Linux
PyCharm is an excellent IDE for Mac, Linux, and Windows. The app is specially designed for Python programming and development. In this guide, we’ll show you how to get the PyCharm IDE up and running in Linux.
Note: This guide will focus on installing the “Community” edition of PyCharm as it is free of charge. If you would like the paid version, head over to the website.
Generic Linux installation instructions
JetBrains distributes a generic TarGZ archive of the community edition of PyCharm for Linux. It’s straightforward to install and ideal for those unable to install software through Flatpaks, Snap packages, or the Arch Linux AUR.
The installation of PyCharm via TarGZ starts by launching a terminal window. To open up a terminal window, press Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard.
Once you’ve got a terminal window open and ready to go, it is time to download the latest TarGZ release of PyCharm via the wget download command.
Note: dislike using the wget downloader tool on your Linux PC? You may also download the latest version of PyCharm by clicking this (https://download.jetbrains.com/python/pycharm-community-2019.3.tar.gz) link.
cd ~/Downloads
wget https://download.jetbrains.com/python/pycharm-community-2019.3.tar.gz
Let the TarGZ archive download via the wget command. It may take a couple of minutes as the file is 385 MB. When the downloading process is complete, use the tar command to extract the contents.
tar xvf pycharm-community-2019.3.tar.gz
When extracted, the TarGZ PyCharm archive will create a new folder named pycharm-community-2019.3. Move into this folder with the CD command, as this is where the installation process takes place.
cd pycharm-community-2019.3
Once inside of the pycharm-community-2019.3 directory, you will need to move one folder deeper. Specifically, you must move into “bin.” Use the CD command to navigate the terminal to it.
cd bin/
Inside of bin there are several different script files. These script files help the PyCharm IDE run on your Linux PC. From here, you can run the app directly by executing the following command.
./pycharm.sh
Keep in mind that each time you want to run this app, you must run the above command.
Arch Linux AUR installation instructions
The PyCharm IDE is available for users to install via the AUR. To install the app, start by opening up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard.
Once the terminal window is open and ready to go, follow the step-by-step instructions below to get PyCharm working on your Arch Linux computer.
Step 1: The first thing that needs to be done when installing PyCharm on Arch Linux is dependencies need to be taken care of. In this case, we must install the “Git” and “Base-devel” packages, as they are necessary to download and compile AUR packages.
To install the “Base-devel” and “Git” packages on your computer, use the following Pacman command in the terminal.
sudo pacman -S base-devel git
Step 2: Now that both dependencies are taken care of, it is time to use the git clone tool to download the latest release of the Trizen AUR helper. This application is very useful, and makes installing Arch Linux User Repository programs simple, taking care of many dependencies automatically.
Using the git clone command, download the Trizen AUR helper package.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git
Step 3: Using the CD command, move your terminal session into the “trizen” directory.
cd trizen
Step 4: Install the Trizen AUR helper app to your Arch Linux PC by running the makepkg command.
makepkg -sri
Step 5: Now that the Trizen AUR helper app is fully set up on your Arch Linux PC, the installation of the PyCharm IDE can begin. To get PyCharm, use the trizen -s command below.
Note: while installing software with Trizen, you may notice prompts appear. Be sure to read what they say!
trizen -S pycharm-community-eap
Snap package installation instructions
The PyCharm IDE is on the Ubuntu Snap Store. So, if you are using Ubuntu or another Linux operating system that is compatible with Snap packages, you will be able to install the app easily.
Note: installing Snap packages on Linux means you must have the Snapd runtime enabled in the background. To enable the Snapd runtime, please head over to this guide here.
Once you’ve gotten the Snapd runtime up and working, installing PyCharm is as easy as entering the following snap install command in a terminal window!
sudo snap install pycharm-community --classic
Flatpak installation instructions
In addition to being on the Ubuntu Snap Store, the PyCharm Python IDE is also available for easy installation in the Flathub Flatpak store. If you’re interested in getting this app working as a Flatpak, do the following.
First, follow our guide here to learn how to set up the Flatpak runtime on your Linux PC. Then, use the flatpak command to subscribe to the Flathub app store.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
After subscribing to the Flathub store, you can install Pycharm with:
sudo flatpak install PyCharm-Community -y
