Linux Installation

All steps (Installation, Testing, Updating) must be completed!

If you are not participating in the LaTeX course, TeXLive is optional. However, if you choose not to install it, you will be unable to use TeX within Matplotlib (this means less aesthetically pleasing plots).

If you are only participating in the LaTeX course, you should install at least VSCodium (or another text editor), as well as TeXLive.

Installation¶

Installation steps are provided for the most common distributions. Only execute the commands specific to your own distribution (e.g., Mint).

The sudo command grants extensive administrator privileges. Thus, any command executed using sudo should be scrutinised with the utmost care.

Git, Make, curl¶

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt upgrade
$ sudo apt install git make curl

$ sudo dnf install git make curl libxcrypt-compat

$ sudo pacman -S git make curl libxcrypt-compat

VSCodium Text Editor¶

The binaries provided by Microsoft for VSCode are proprietary and contain tracking software. For this reason, we recommend VSCodium, an open-source variant of VSCode.

$ sudo pacman -S code

Python Installation: Miniforge3¶

Enter the following lines into your terminal:

$ cd ~/.local
$ curl -LO "https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest/download/Miniforge3-$(uname)-$(uname -m).sh"
$ bash Miniforge3-$(uname)-$(uname -m).sh -p ~/.local/conda

Depending on the size of your terminal, you may need to press Enter repeatedly to scroll through the entire license agreement. Then, you can accept it by typing yes. We specified the installation location in the third command; simply confirm the prompt by pressing Enter. Do you wish to update your shell profile to automatically initialize conda? yes.

With this, the base Python environment is installed.

Next, create a dedicated Python environment specifically for the Toolbox Workshop using:

$ mamba create -y -n toolbox python=3.13 ipython numpy matplotlib scipy uncertainties sympy

Activate this environment with:

$ mamba activate toolbox

Once the installation is complete, you may delete the installation file with:

$ rm ~/.local/Miniforge3-*.sh

TeXLive¶

Continue here for all Linux distributions:

In the terminal, use the following three commands to download the installation script, executing it with the last command.

$ cd ~/.local
$ curl -L http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl-unx.tar.gz | tar xz
$ TEXLIVE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/.local/texlive ./install-tl-*/install-tl

Start the installation by pressing I followed by Enter.

After the installation, you have to inform the system where LaTeX has been installed. This is done within the ~/.bashrc file. To do this, execute the following command in the terminal:

$ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/texlive/2025/bin/x86_64-linux:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

Close the terminal and open a new one to proceed with the remaining steps. In the new terminal, enter the following commands:

$ tlmgr option autobackup -- -1
$ tlmgr option repository https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet
$ luaotfload-tool --update --force

If this installation fails due to insufficient disk space, there is also this option to install a minimal version of TeXLive.

Now, test your installation!

Testing¶

In the following section, we will verify that the installations were successful, so that you can start the workshop with ease.

Git¶

Open a terminal and enter:

$ git

The Git help text should appear.

Configuring Git: Enter the following lines using your own details, into the terminal, one by one:

$ git config --global user.name "Max Mustermann"
$ git config --global user.email "max.mustermann@udo.edu"
$ git config --global rebase.stat true
$ git config --global merge.conflictstyle diff3

To configure Git to use VSCodium as its editor:

$ git config --global core.editor "codium --wait"

Python¶

Also in a terminal:

$ mamba activate toolbox
$ ipython

The ipython program should launch, and instead of the $ prompt, you will see a numbered prompt. Now, enter the following, one by one:

In [1]: %matplotlib
In [2]: import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
In [3]: import numpy as np
In [4]: import scipy
In [5]: import sympy
In [6]: import uncertainties
In [7]: plt.plot([1, 2, 4])

A window containing a plot should appear. Close the window and exit ipython by typing:

In [8]: quit

Make¶

Also in a terminal, run:

$ make

The following output should appear:

make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found.  Stop.

TeX¶

In a terminal:

$ luatex

The following (or a similar) output should appear:

This is LuaTeX, Version 1.24.0 (TeX Live 2026)
 restricted system commands enabled.
**

You can terminate the process with Ctrl + c. Next, we will test a program for managing bibliographies or references,

$ biber

The Biber help text should appear. The following command should open the TeXLive documentation (in a PDF viewer):

$ texdoc texlive

Updating¶

General¶

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt upgrade

$ dnf update

$ sudo pacman -Syu

Python Update¶

In a terminal:

$ mamba update -n toolbox --all

TeXLive¶

In a terminal:

$ tlmgr update --self --all --reinstall-forcibly-removed