# Notes for Linux and {abbr}`WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)` users

:::{warning}
If you are using macOS, you can skip this page and proceed directly to
[the next topic](./python.md).
:::

Most Linux distributions provide tools for installing software system-wide. For example,
Debian and Debian-based distributions (such as Ubuntu and Mint) use the `apt`
command-line tool. While other Linux distributions use different tools, we will focus
here on `apt`.

After a fresh installation of Ubuntu (such as with WSL), it is important to upgrade the
system packages by running the following commands in a terminal:

```sh
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
```

Additional packages can then be installed using commands that begin with
`sudo apt install`. For example, we recommend installing the `curl` package (which is
often used in tutorials to download files from the web and is not included by default)
with:

```sh
sudo apt install curl
```

:::{admonition} No permission to run `sudo apt`?
:class: dropdown

Running `sudo apt` commands requires administrative permissions. If you are unable to
execute these commands, please ask your administrator to assist with this part
[](./index.md).

In summary, we recommend having the following Debian/Ubuntu packages installed:

```sh
sudo apt install curl python3-dev python3-venv git meld
```
:::