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FAQ

General

What does this install?

See Tools Matrix - ~90+ development tools.

Which Ubuntu versions does it support?

24.04 LTS or newer. WSL2 or native.

Can I run this multiple times?

Yes. One-time backs up configs, preserves SSH keys and git settings, respects numbered config files (10-99).

How often should I run updates?

Monthly or as needed. Run ./setup.sh to update everything.

Can I uninstall everything?

No uninstaller provided for now.

How do I migrate softly from my old existing user on my system?

Just create a new user, and start using that, slowly migrating what you need.

sudo adduser <newuser>
sudo usermod -aG sudo <newuser>
Note
 If on WSL, we also can keep the old default user, but set a new default 
sudo vim /etc/wsl.conf

# Set the default user when launching a distribution with WSL.
[user]
default=<newuser>

# Shutdown WSL and restart to take effect
wsl --shutdown

Customization

Does the install create lots of custom shortcuts and aliases?

No, everything is as standard as can be. There are a few small cases, like alt+y in fish shell. These are documented in the usage docs.

How do themes work on WSL?

Run devbase-theme and find out

How do I personalize without losing changes on update?

Add your customizations to separate files: ~/.config/fish/conf.d/10-personal.fish

Devbase provides 00-09 system files. User files 10-99 won’t be overwritten since they don’t exist in the template.

Can I skip certain components?

No. The installer runs all components. Fork and modify if you need selective installation.

For organization-specific customization, see Custom Configuration.

Is this a distro?

No. This is a bootstrap script - not a package manager, not a CLI tool, maybe it could be called a dotfiles + script.

Operations

How do I update everything?

cd devbase-core
git pull --rebase
./setup.sh  # Safe to run multiple times

How do I switch tool versions?

mise global python@3.11 # System-wide
mise list              # Show installed versions

How do I check my installation?

just devbase-install-verify # After installation, and reboot, from the devbase-core dir
cat ~/.config/devbase/version  # Installation metadata
which fish                     # Verify shell
mise doctor                    # Check mise setup

Technical

Where are tools installed?

  • System packages: /usr/bin/, /usr/local/bin/

  • User tools: ~/.local/bin/

  • Language versions: ~/.local/share/mise/

  • Configurations: ~/.config/

Which shell is set as default?

Fish for interactive shells. Fall back to bash with: bash.

How do I see what’s happening during installation?

Most output is shown in the terminal. Use DEBUG=1 ./setup.sh for additional details.

What’s the difference between mise and asdf?

mise is a Rust rewrite of asdf with better performance, additional backends (aqua, ubi), and improved security.

Why Podman instead of Docker?

Rootless by default, no daemon, Docker-compatible.

Why am I being asked about MISE_GITHUB_TOKEN during installation?

Without a GitHub token, mise downloads may be rate limited by GitHub’s API (60 requests/hour for unauthenticated requests). This can cause installation failures or stalls.

To avoid this issue:

# Create a token at: https://github.com/settings/tokens/new?scopes=public_repo
export MISE_GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_token_here
./setup.sh

You can also add it to your shell profile permanently:

echo 'export MISE_GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_token_here' >> ~/.bashrc

The installation will continue without a token if you choose, but may experience issues.