Welcome, fellow Linux enthusiasts! In this guide, we will walk through the process of installing Alacritty, a blazing-fast GPU-accelerated terminal emulator, on a fresh Ubuntu (22.0.4 LTS) machine. Alacritty is not only swift but also highly customizable, making it an excellent choice for power users and developers.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure that you have administrative privileges on your Ubuntu machine. If not, you can use the sudo command to execute commands with superuser privileges.

Step 1: Install Curl

sudo apt install curl

Curl is a versatile command-line tool used for making HTTP requests, and we'll need it to fetch the necessary components for the installation.

Step 2: Install Rust

curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh

This command installs Rust and Cargo, the Rust package manager. Rust is a systems programming language that Alacritty is built with.

Step 3: Install Dependencies

sudo apt install cmake pkg-config libfreetype6-dev libfontconfig1-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev libxkbcommon-dev python3

Alacritty relies on several dependencies, and this command ensures that all the required development files are present on your system.

Step 4: Build and Install Alacritty

cargo install alacritty

This command fetches the Alacritty source code and compiles it using Cargo.

Step 5: Copy Alacritty to System Bin

sudo cp .cargo/bin/alacritty /usr/bin

This copies the Alacritty binary to a location in your system's PATH.

Step 6: Set Alacritty as Default Terminal

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator x-terminal-emulator /usr/bin/alacritty 50

Step 7: Configure Default Terminal

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

Choose Alacritty from the presented options.

Step 8: Verify Configuration

Close the current terminal and open a new one with CTRL+SHIFT+T. Alacritty is now your default terminal.

Note: To revert to the previous default terminal, use the following command:

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Alacritty on your Ubuntu machine. Enjoy the speed and efficiency of your new terminal emulator. If you ever wish to switch back to your previous default terminal, the provided note has got you covered.

Happy coding!