Installing Sublime for my use

In this article, I keep track of how I installed Sublime Text 2 on my computer(s) running Ubuntu, from download to adding a launcher in Unity sidebar.

Installing¶

• Download Sublime from website
  • download linux 64 bit version at http://www.sublimetext.com/2
    • latest version at the time of my writing is 2.0.2
  • save to /opt/INSTALL_MEDIA
• create /opt/sublimetext directory

cd /opt
sudo mkdir sublimetext
sudo chown lesaint:lesaint sublimetext

• cp tar file to /opt/sublime, decompress it and create symbolic link to the current version

cp ../INSTALL_MEDIA/Sublime\ Text\ 2.0.2\ x64.tar.bz2 .
tar xvfj Sublime\ Text\ 2.0.2\ x64.tar.bz2
mv Sublime\ Text\ 2 2.0.2
ln -s 2.0.2 sublime

Executing¶

• add sublime to local bin directory for convenient command line use

ln -s /opt/sublimetext/sublime/sublime_text /usr/local/bin/sublime

• create sidebar launcher in Unity
  • create a desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications/ called sublimetext.desktop with following content

    [Desktop Entry]
    Name=Sublime Text 2
    Exec="/opt/sublimetext/sublime/sublime_text" %F
    MimeType=text/plain;
    Terminal=false
    Type=Application
    Icon=/opt/sublimetext/sublime/Icon/256x256/sublime_text.png
    Categories=GNOME;GTK;Utility;TextEditor;Development;
    Actions=New;

    [Desktop Action New]
    Name=New Editor Window
    Exec="/opt/sublimetext/sublime/sublime_text" --new-window
    MimeType=text/plain;
    OnlyShowIn=Unity;

- resources :
    + [http://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3457#p43852](http://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3457#p43852)
    + [http://www.saintsjd.com/2012/10/create-a-sidebar-launcher-for-sublime-text-2-in-ubuntu-unity/](http://www.saintsjd.com/2012/10/create-a-sidebar-launcher-for-sublime-text-2-in-ubuntu-unity/)

Minimal Sublime tuning¶

• Install Package Control extension
  • Package Control is the most convenient way of extending Sublime Text and offers lots of resources
  • see instructions at https://sublime.wbond.net/installation
• Keyboard shortcuts
  • make delete line shortcut actually useable
    • default shurtcut ctrl+shift+k can not be used with a single hand
    • open shorcut preferences : Preferences > Key Bindings - User
    • add the following line (which overwrite default's ctrl+d key binding for command find_under_expand)

            { "keys": ["ctrl+d"], "command": "run_macro_file", "args": {"file": "Packages/Default/Delete Line.sublime-macro"} }

• User preferences

  • I found several nice ideas of tuning Sublime Text there : http://www.synbioz.com/blog/sublime_text
  • open user preferences : Preferences > Settings - User

  • make sure files have trailing new line

        "ensure_newline_at_eof_on_save": true,
        "trim_trailing_white_space_on_save": true
    

  • improve visibility of modified files tabs and hightligh line with cursor

    "highlight_line": true,
    "highlight_modified_tabs": true