How to Install Oracle SQL Developer on Ubuntu 20.10

This is a fairly straightforward guide to install Oracle SQL Developer on Ubuntu 20.10

1º Step — Obtaining the file

Go to Oracles Website: https://www.oracle.com/tools/downloads/sqldev-downloads.html and download the Linux RPM file. YES! RPM!

If you get a problem like in the image below, don’t worry I will help you. If your download it’s ok, pass to 2º step

To fix this, on the download page, do right click on the download link, then click on “Inspect Element”.

After that, copy the content inside data-file=”<….copy this….>”. In my case was:

//download.oracle.com/otn/java/sqldeveloper/sqldeveloper-20.2.0.175.1842–20.2.0–175.1842.noarch.rpm

Put “https:” at the beginning and paste it in your address bar. Now your download will start.

https://download.oracle.com/otn/java/sqldeveloper/sqldeveloper-20.2.0.175.1842–20.2.0–175.1842.noarch.rpm

2º Step — Install JDK

Just do:

sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk

3º Step —Transform your .rpm in a .deb file

Install alien and execute it on your sql-developer file. This step can be slow, but don’t worry everything is working.

sudo apt install alien 
sudo alien sqldeveloper-*

4º Step —Install your .deb

In the same folder of your .deb file, execute the command below to install the SQL Developer.

sudo dpkg -i sqldeveloper_*

Now, your program was installed. Execute sqldeveloper to open it.

sqldeveloper

Possible errors

If after open the program the following error happens:

Type the full pathname of a JDK installation (or Ctrl-C to quit), the path will be stored in /home/your-user/.sqldeveloper/sqld-version/product.conf

your-user is your ubuntu user and sqld-version is the sql-developer version.

Write at end of the following files:
/home/your-user/.sqldeveloper/sqld-version/product.confsudo
/opt/sqldeveloper/sqldeveloper/bin/sqldeveloper.conf

This line:

SetSkipJ2SDKCheck true

5º Step — Create Shortcut Icon

Create a file into the shortcut Ubuntu folder

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

Write this in the file and save.

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Oracle SQL Developer 
Comment=SQL Developer from Oracle 
GenericName=SQL Tool 
Exec=/usr/local/bin/sqldeveloper 
Icon=/opt/sqldeveloper/icon.png 
Type=Application 
StartupNotify=true 
Categories=Utility;Oracle;Development;SQL;

Everything is done! Enjoy!