A new project was started. It’s called “mint-dev-tools” and its purpose is to make it easier for people to quickly get set up and compile and run the very latest Mint projects.

Mint-dev-tools is primarily made by and for the Linux Mint developers, but it can also be used by people who want to get involved, or even by users who want to check out what we’re working on, or to troubleshoot an issue (running the latest version for instance to see if a particular bug was fixed).

The package mint-dev-tools is available in Qiana, Rebecca and Betsy. By installing it and running a setup command you can get your environment ready and you’re then all set to compile and run the very latest Linux Mint source code.

apt update apt install mint-dev-tools mint-dev-setup 1 2 3 apt update apt install mint - dev - tools mint - dev - setup

Installing mint-dev-tools automatically installs the following development tools on your computer:

git tools (git, gitk, gitg)

meld (a nice visual diff tool)

sublime-text (a great development text editor)

packaging tools (devscripts, git-buildpackage, dpkg-dev, debhelper)

search/replace tools (regexxer, pyrenamer)

development tools/resources (glade, gdb, awf, gnome-dbg, devhelp)

monitoring/configuration tools (d-feet, gconf-editor, dconf-editor)

As for the mint-dev-setup command, well it sets up the following for you:

Creates your Sandbox (that’s where you code, download source code, compile..etc)

Configures your Git profile and SSH key

Sets up APT sources repositories

After that, you’re ready to build any Mint project with the mint-dev-build command.

mint-dev-build 1 mint - dev - build

Typing “mint-dev-build” shows the list of available projects on the screen:

1. Cinnamon (all sub-projects) 2. blueberry 3. cinnamon 4. cinnamon-Screensaver 5. cinnamon-control-center 6. cinnamon-desktop 7. cinnamon-menus 8. cinnamon-session 9. cinnamon-settings-daemon 10. cinnamon-themes 11. cinnamon-translations 12. cjs 13. mdm 14. mint-common 15. mint-themes 16. mint-themes-gtk3 17. mint-translations 18. mint-x-icons 19. mintdesktop 20. mintdrivers 21. mintinstall 22. mintlocale 23. mintmenu 24. mintnanny 25. mintsources 26. mintstick 27. mintsystem 28. mintupdate 29. mintupload 30. mintwelcome 31. muffin 32. nemo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 1. Cinnamon ( all sub - projects ) 2. blueberry 3. cinnamon 4. cinnamon - Screensaver 5. cinnamon - control - center 6. cinnamon - desktop 7. cinnamon - menus 8. cinnamon - session 9. cinnamon - settings - daemon 10. cinnamon - themes 11. cinnamon - translations 12. cjs 13. mdm 14. mint - common 15. mint - themes 16. mint - themes - gtk3 17. mint - translations 18. mint - x - icons 19. mintdesktop 20. mintdrivers 21. mintinstall 22. mintlocale 23. mintmenu 24. mintnanny 25. mintsources 26. mintstick 27. mintsystem 28. mintupdate 29. mintupload 30. mintwelcome 31. muffin 32. nemo

Select the number of the project you want.. and mint-dev-tools does the following:

It downloads the source code in your ~/Sandbox

Installs any build dependency you might need to compile it

Compiles the project

Installs the resulting packages onto your machine

Next thing you know, you’re running the latest Git version of whatever project you just built.

It goes without saying that this is mostly aimed at developers, that Git versions are by definition unstable and that you should be careful when using tools like these…

In any case, it never got easier to set up a new box for Linux Mint development or to join the development team or compile Mint projects without any prior knowledge.