How to Install PyCharm on Debian 11 Bullseye

PyCharm is a dedicated Python graphical IDE (Integrated Development Environment) popular amongst Python developers with its wide range of essential tools such as analyzing code, debugging, and integration. The IDE also comes with the command line, connects to a database, creates a virtual environment, and manages your version control system (Git).

In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install PyCharm Community, Professional or Educational, with Flatpak or Snapcraft (Snap) on Debian 11 Bullseye.

Prerequisites

• Recommended OS: Debian 11 Bullseye
• User account: A user account with sudo or root access.

Update Operating System

Update your Debian operating system to make sure all existing packages are up to date:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

The tutorial will be using the sudo command and assuming you have sudo status.

To verify sudo status on your account:

sudo whoami

Example output showing sudo status:

[joshua@debian~]$ sudo whoami
root

To set up an existing or new sudo account, visit our tutorial on Adding a User to Sudoers on Debian.

To use the root account, use the following command with the root password to log in.

su

The tutorial will utilize the terminal for the installation found in Activities > Show Applications > Terminal.

Example:

Install Python Dependencies

To ensure that the IDE can successfully load, have the default Python 3. xx installed on your Debian system. If you are using Python versions already, this can be skipped.

sudo apt install python3 python3-dev python3-distutils -y

Failure to install these may affect loading PyCharm if you skipped and noticed the error return and run the command above.

Option 1 – Install PyCharm with Flatpak

By default, PyCharm does not come included on Debian 11 Bullseye repository, so it’s recommended to use an external installation manager so you can keep receiving updates. The first option will use Flatpak.

First, install the Flatpak package.

sudo apt install flatpak -y

Next, you need to enable Flatpack for Debian using the following command in your terminal:

sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Note the message. This will be covered later on.

are not in the search path set by the XDG_DATA_DIRS environment variable, so
applications installed by Flatpak may not appear on your desktop until the
session is restarted.

Flatpak only features Community and Professional and not the Educational. For most, the Community is recommended for first-time use.

Install PyCharm Community:

flatpak install flathub com.jetbrains.PyCharm-Community

Install PyCharm Professional:

flatpak install flathub com.jetbrains.PyCharm-Professional

Example output (Community):

Type Y twice, then press the ENTER KEY twice to proceed with the installation.

YOU MUST RESTART YOUR PC IF THE APPLICATION ICON IS MISSING OR THE APP IS NOT LAUNCHING FOR THE FIRST TIME!

You can log in and out of your session to view the application icon or use the following terminal command.

sudo reboot

Note, if your icon is not missing and your app launches, then ignore the above command.

However, if you need to update manually, use the following command.

flatpak update

To remove the Flatpack version of PyCharm, use the following command.

Remove PyCharm Community:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.jetbrains.PyCharm-Community

Remove PyCharm Professional:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.jetbrains.PyCharm-Professional

Example output (Community):

Type Y and then ENTER KEY to proceed with the removal of PyCharm using the Flatpak method.

Option 2 – Install PyCharm with Snapcraft (Snap)

The second option is to use the Snap package manager. Debian users would be familiar with Snapcraft, given it’s featured heavily on Ubuntu systems.

First, install Snap as it does not come natively installed like on similar distributions.

sudo apt install snapd -y

By default, Snap service should be started and enabled on startup. If this hasn’t occurred, use the following command.

sudo systemctl enable snapd --now

Next, some packages come in classic, so you need to create a symlink to enable classic snap support.

sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap

If you are installing Snap for the first time, it is advised to install the core files to avoid conflicting issues:

sudo snap install core

Example output:

core 16-2.52.1 from Canonical✓ installed

Next, it is recommended to restart the snap service at this point.

sudo systemctl restart snapd

Next, verify the Snapd service is running by using the systemctl command:

systemctl status snapd

Example:

Next, install the PyCharm.

Install PyCharm Community:

sudo snap install pycharm-community --classic

Install PyCharm Professional:

sudo snap install pycharm-professional --classic

Install PyCharm Educational:

sudo snap install pycharm-educational --classic

Example output (Community):

pycharm-community 2021.2.3 from jetbrains✓ installed

As above, this informs you that PyCharm was successfully installed and the version number.

YOU MUST RESTART YOUR PC IF THE APPLICATION ICON IS MISSING OR THE APP IS NOT LAUNCHING FOR THE FIRST TIME!

You can log in and out of your session to view the application icon or use the following terminal command.

sudo reboot

Note, if your application icon is not missing and your app launches, ignore the above command.

Snap packages are more significant in size than traditional repositories through the DNF package manager for several reasons. However, the trade-off is more straightforward maintained packages that are often updated to the latest available version.

For the future, to update along with and any other packages installed by Snap, run the following command:

sudo snap refresh

If you no longer need to have PyCharm installed, remove it using the Snap remove command.

Remove PyCharm Community:

sudo snap remove pycharm-community

Remove PyCharm Professional:

sudo snap remove pycharm-professional

Remove PyCharm Educational:

sudo snap remove pycharm-educational

Example output (Community):

pycharm-community removed

How to Launch PyCharm

Now that you have the PyCharm client installed, launching can be done in two ways.

In your terminal type:

Launch PyCharm Community:

pycharm-community

Launch PyCharm Professional:

pycharm-professional

Launch PyCharm Educational:

pycharm-educational

Alternatively, Flatpak users will need to launch using the command below from a terminal instance:

Launch PyCharm Community:

flatpak run com.jetbrains.PyCharm-Professional
flatpak run com.jetbrains.PyCharm-Community

Launch PyCharm Professional:

flatpak run com.jetbrains.PyCharm-Professional

However, this isn’t practical, and you would use the following path on your desktop to open with the path: Activities > Show Applications > PyCharm. If you cannot find it, use the search function in the Show Applications menu if you have many applications installed.

Example:

The first time you launch PyCharm, you will potentially come across two pop-ups.

The first pop-up is the standard terms of use.

Press the accept button to continue.

Example:

The second pop-up is requesting if you would like to share anonymous data to help improve the application.

Choose either to send or not to send to continue.

Example:

Once you open PyCharm, you will see the first default landing screen.

Example (Community):

Congratulations, you have successfully installed and launched PyCharm.

Comments and Conclusion

In the tutorial, you have learned how to install PyCharm on your Debian 11 Bullseye desktop using two different methods, which you can change in the future if you prefer using one package manager over another.

Overall, it is worth installing PyCharm if you are heavily developing using the Python programming language. If you are learning Python, you do not need to be an expert. It will help you understand just as well, if not better than any of the more prominent names in the IDE field.

For further information, visit the official PyCharm documentation.