How to Install Spring Tool Suite on Linux?

Last Updated : 27 Dec, 2023

Spring Tool Suite, also known as STS an abbreviated version of Spring Tool Suite. In this article, we will discuss Installing the latest Spring Tool Suite on Linux.

What is Spring Tool Suite?

STS is a Java Integrated Development Environment specially designed for Spring-based enterprise applications by VMware. It is an open source and we can use it for free. It is an upgraded version of Eclipse IDE but entirely customized to support spring-based projects out of the box.

Spring Tools 4 is the tool for coding. It provides support for developing Spring-based enterprise applications, for this you can prefer Eclipse, Visual Studio Code, or Theia IDE.

Procedure of Installation of STS

Download the Spring Tool Suite tar from the official Spring Tools webpage.
Extract the tarball into the Downloads folder.
Move the tar ball into opt folder.
Create the soft link and desktop file for ease of launching.
Run the Spring Tool Suite Application.

Steps for Installing Spring Tool Suite

Step 1: Download the Spring Tool Suite tarball for Linux, from the Spring tools webpage.

Step 2: Open a terminal window and move to the location where the tarball is saved.

cd location

Step 3: Extract the tarball using the below command,

tar  -xzf  tar_ball_name

where,

x -> extract the tar
z -> verbose output of the extracting process
f -> tar archive name

Step 4: Moving STS extracted folder to the /opt directory, `/opt` is the folder intended for third party software that is not part of the core system, so that we have chosen /opt to be the folder for the software. For this use the below command,

sudo mv sts.4.20.1.RELEASE/ /opt/sts/

sts is the destination folder that will be used for storing all the files, sudo is used as /opt is owned by the root user.

Step 5: Creating soft link to launch using terminal, use the following command,

sudo ln -sf /opt/sts/SpringToolSuite4 /usr/bin

where,

s -> makes symbolic links.
f -> removes existing entries.

Step 6: Launching STS from the terminal by using following command,

SpringToolSuite4

Step 7: Launching from terminal is somewhat tedious, if you are not using terminal frequently, then we can also create a .desktop file so that it will appear in the launchpad like every other application.

Create a file using the below command in nano editor and add the below content.

sudo nano /usr/share/applications/SpringToolSuite4.desktop

[Desktop Entry]

Type=Application
Name=Spring Tool Suite 4
Comment=A customized Eclipse IDE gives a better experience for Spring based Entreprise Applications
Exec=/usr/bin/SpringToolSuite4
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
Icon=/opt/sts/icon.xpm
Categories=Development;IDE;Java

Adding the command in nano editor below,

Adding the content in below nano editor,

Now, we have setup the desktop file for Spring Tool Suite and it should be visible in the launchpad as a normal application that you would install through Ubuntu Store.

Step 8: Launching Spring Tool Suite through the applications menu or launchpad, press the super key and type Spring, now you should see the STS icon, click on that to open the application.