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I am new to Ubuntu, I have just installed dual boot Ubuntu 12.04. I want to install android studio, but I don't really know how. I have downloaded the android-studio-bundle.tgz file and in the it is written to unpack the file in the appropriate location. I don't really know what appropriate location for my applications means. Can you please tell me where to unpack this file, or if this is the correct way of installing android studio? also if you comment me a good guide or place to read about tips on ubuntu I would be very grateful, just to have general understanding of ubuntu.

main question: where should I unpack my android-studio-bundle.tgz file?

Braiam
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GreedyAi
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  • just unpack them to your home directory as long as java path is visible. – Zuko Feb 15 '14 at 21:00
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    @RaduRădeanu It's not about what I tried and didn't work, It's about what is the best place to put it. What is the right way to do it, because I don't how ubuntu works and what consequences things will have. – GreedyAi Feb 15 '14 at 22:57
  • I usually install software like this in my home folder ~/.local/lib – zeitue Apr 18 '14 at 16:24

3 Answers3

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The key parts of the question as I see them: user is new to Ubuntu/Linux, user wants a recommendation based off of best practices and basic user experience.

@luis-de-sousa was correct in pointing out the Ubuntu directory structure, but I used this reference from Official Sources.

If you want android-studio to be available to all users (based on the above) you should be unpacking the tar/tgz/zip to /opt rather than the /usr/local or /usr/bin (with the latter being preferred for specific-user installations). Setup properly, we shouldn't need to change user group permissions or any other high-level administration.

  1. Unpack the downloaded tar/tgz/zip file where it lays
  2. Using a Terminal window, navigate to that folder location (probably cd ~/Downloads), invoke sudo -i (You will need administrator/su permissions for the next few steps)
  3. mv android-studio /opt moves the files you unpacked (requires permissions)

  4. gedit android-studio.desktop this opens a text editor so that we may create a shortcut icon to open your new program. Insert the following code, then save the .desktop file.

    [Desktop Entry]
 Name=Android Studio
 Comment=Integerated Development Environment for Android
 Exec=/opt/android-studio/bin/studio.sh
 Icon=/opt/android-studio/bin/studio.png
 Terminal=false
 Type=Application
 Categories=Development;IDE

  5. To finish up, desktop-file-install android-studio.desktop

We are done with the terminal window, you can close it or exit That .desktop file now allows you to search for and find android-studio within Ubuntu's Unity interface (or whatever DE menu/dash you are using). In other words, click that icon in the upper-left to search for android-studio You may also right-click on the icon while it is running and "lock it to the launcher."

You can also create menu options to appear for your application launcher, see the Ubuntu Documentation on Unity Launchers.

Besides the in-text citations, I also referenced the following pages extensively:

http://naveensnayak.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/ubuntu-13-04-adding-launchers-to-unity-panel/

How to install Eclipse?

http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/studio.html#Installing

Community
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Clayton
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    Thank you very much Clayton. That was the perfect and user friendliest solution I could ask for. – flu Sep 20 '14 at 09:57
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    Well done. This is a perfect description on how to install manually. – The Jeff Oct 12 '14 at 05:52
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    For anyone stressing about where they should be creating android-studio.desktop, don't worry. The desktop-file-install step creates a new version of this file in /usr/share/applications so the one you create yourself ultimately becomes extraneous. – pjd Jan 29 '16 at 17:28
  • I just need to add a trailing semicolon after the last line: Categories=Development;IDE and sudo the step 5: sudo desktop-file-install android-studio.desktop – Luiz Rossi Jan 22 '19 at 17:05
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In Linux, programmes are usually stored in /usr/local or /usr/share; when you install a programme with apt it is automatically set up inside one of these folders. I would advise you to create a folder like /usr/local/android-studio and unpack the file there (note that you'll need sudo rights to do it).

Otherwise you can unpack it somewhere in your home folder, also an option if you do not have sudo rights. Here it does not really matter where, you may create a folder like ~/software/android-studio for convenience.

Read more about the Linux directory structure.

Luís de Sousa
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  • how can the user run something in /usr/local/android-studio/bin? – Braiam Mar 12 '14 at 05:23
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    ./usr/local/android-studio/bin/studio.sh – Mendhak Apr 18 '14 at 13:18
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    Cautionary note: if you install such that a sudo is required for running, it might lead to the following problem when using the emulator: .ini files being created in /root and not visible to Android Studio. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25829620/android-studio-avd-manager-creating-avds-in-root-directory – Phil Freihofner Mar 04 '15 at 21:04
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Ok, let me state clear, there's an appropriated place to place stuff, but in this case, simple is the best, so I prefer any location where you already have write/read permissions, like you $HOME directory.

Take from the instructions

Linux:

  1. Unpack the downloaded Tar file, android-studio-bundle-.tgz, into an appropriate location for your applications.
  2. To launch Android Studio, navigate to the android-studio/bin/ directory in a terminal and execute studio.sh.
  3. You may want to add android-studio/bin/ to your PATH environmental variable so that you can start Android Studio from any directory.

Resuming in easy steps:

mkdir ~/android-sdk && cd ~/android-sdk
wget http://dl.google.com/android/studio/install/0.4.2/android-studio-bundle-133.970939-linux.tgz
tar xf android-studio-bundle-133.970939-linux.tgz
export PATH="~/android-sdk/android-studio/bin/:$PATH"
studio.sh

If you want to make them permanent:

echo 'export PATH="~/android-sdk/android-studio/bin/:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

or .zshrc. Depending the shell you use. Done. You can use whatever path you like, just try to do not interfere with other software.

Braiam
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  • Anyone knows where it's wrong? – Braiam Apr 18 '14 at 11:53
  • I think (not sure, as I chose to abstain from voting in this case) because ~/android-sdk is not an appropriate location for applications. Personally, I keep in ~ documents, pictures, music, videos and stuff like these. – Radu Rădeanu Apr 18 '14 at 13:10
  • @RaduRădeanu the path doesn't matter, that was the point of my answer. You can change the path to whatever you like. Also, it follows the wiki entry. If you check the other answer it also installs in HOME, so I don't know why is mine wrong? – Braiam Apr 18 '14 at 13:15
  • OK, then add this to your answer, don't tell just to me... I don't see that point. – Radu Rădeanu Apr 18 '14 at 13:22
  • @RaduRădeanu I was asking what was wrong, you gave your opinion, and I said that it shouldn't matter if that was the reason why people downvoted. – Braiam Apr 18 '14 at 13:41
  • Can you give a good documentation on .bash_profile ,.profile, .bashrc and similar files – Chinmaya B Feb 19 '15 at 15:27
  • @Creator man bash – Braiam Feb 20 '15 at 00:55
  • @Braiam - I am getting following error message when i log into shell as a user or root bash: export: =': not a valid identifier bash: export: /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:~/android-studio/bin': not a valid identifier After I append .bashrc file with export string – Chinmaya B Feb 20 '15 at 10:16
  • @Creator I really don't know what you did, ask a new question with the entire content of your .bashrc file. – Braiam Feb 20 '15 at 15:23