IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition Installation on Linux

Step 1: Download IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition

Visit the official JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA download page.
Select the Community Edition and download the .tar.gz file for Linux.
Alternatively, use the following wget command to download the file directly (make sure to replace the version number with the latest version):

$ cd ~/Downloads
$ wget https://download.jetbrains.com/idea/ideaIC-2025.1.4.1.tar.gz

You can rename the file idea-IC-251.27812.49 to ideaIC-2025.1.4.1 in the terminal using the mv command. Here’s the syntax:

$ mv idea-IC-251.27812.49 ideaIC-2025.1.4.1

Make sure you're in the correct directory where the file is located or specify the full path to the file.

Step 2: Extract the `.tar.gz` File

Once the download is complete, extract the .tar.gz file using the tar command:

$ tar -xvzf ideaIC-2025.1.4.1.tar.gz

Step 3: Move IntelliJ IDEA to `/opt` Directory

For best practices, move the extracted IntelliJ IDEA folder to the /opt directory, which is commonly used for third-party applications:

$ sudo mv ideaIC-2025.1.4.1 /opt/ideaIC

Step 4: Create a Symlink for Easy Access

To easily run IntelliJ IDEA from the terminal, create a symbolic link:

$ sudo ln -s /opt/ideaIC/bin/idea.sh /usr/local/bin/ideaIC

Now, you can launch IntelliJ IDEA by simply typing ideaIC in the terminal.

Step 5: Create a Desktop Menu Entry

To make IntelliJ IDEA available in your application menu, you need to create a .desktop entry:

Open a new .desktop file in the /usr/share/applications directory:

$ sudo nano /usr/share/applications/ideaIC.desktop

Add the following content to the file:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=IdeaIC
Comment=IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition
Exec=/opt/ideaIC/bin/idea.sh
Icon=/opt/ideaIC/bin/idea.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Development;IDE;

Make sure the Icon path points to the correct icon file. If the icon is missing, you can replace the icon path with a default one or use another image that fits your preferences.

Step 6: Update the Application Menu

After creating the .desktop file, update the application menu to ensure the changes take effect:

$ sudo update-desktop-database

You may need to log out and log back in or restart your system for the application to show up in the menu.

Step 7: Launch IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition

You can now launch IntelliJ IDEA in two ways:

From the application menu (under Development)
From the terminal by typing:

$ ideaIC

Troubleshooting

If the icon does not show up in the menu, try the following:

Double-check the icon file path in the .desktop entry.
Ensure the icon file is readable by running:

sudo chmod +r /opt/ideaIC/bin/idea.png

Clear the icon cache if needed:

$ sudo gtk-update-icon-cache /usr/share/icons/hicolor/

Conclusion

You’ve successfully installed IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition on Linux, added it to the application menu, and created a symbolic link for easy access from the terminal.

Now, you're ready to start using IntelliJ IDEA for your Java development projects!

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