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Intellij on Ubuntu

The default mode of installing Intellij on Ubuntu seems to be as a Snap. There are definitely some advantages there, for example how easy it becomes to update the intellij version. What sometimes happens with Snaps though, which unfortunately was the case for me, is that they take a long time to startup.

It would take what felt like ages to start the application and sometimes you’d be left wondering if you actually clicked to start it or not. Sometimes the startup would also end up in weird states where some empty instances started. Anyway, since opening the IDE is something that I do every day and sometimes more than once a day, this annoyance became a priority of mine.

It turns out that installing Intellij native isn’t very difficult. Idea provides a tool they call the Toolbox App and by using that it was quick and easy to get a normal installation of intellij. And the results? After installing it normally startup takes about 20 seconds until it is fully operational, but at least you get some kind of feedback already after a second or two. Compared to the snap version it is a much improved experience.