How to Install Mono on Ubuntu Linux

This post shows students and new users how to install the open-source project called Mono on Ubuntu 20.04 | 18.04.

For those who don’t know, Mono provides a . NET-compatible and C# compiler tool sets which make it possible to develop and run C# code in Linux.

For students or new users looking for a Linux system to start learning on, the easiest place to start is Ubuntu Linux OS. It’s a great Linux operating system for beginners and folks looking for easier Linux distribution to use.

Ubuntu is an open-source Linux operating system that runs on desktops, laptops, servers, and other devices.

Installing Mono on Ubuntu is pretty straightforward. Simply add its repository and install it from there. To do that, follow the steps below:

Add Mono Repository

If you want to always version of Mono on Ubuntu, add its repository. When its repository is added, all newer versions and updates will be available to install.

To add its repository, run the commands below

sudo apt update
sudo apt install dirmngr gnupg apt-transport-https ca-certificates

Next, run the commands below to add its repository and key and repository file to Ubuntu.

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 3FA7E0328081BFF6A14DA29AA6A19B38D3D831EF
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://download.mono-project.com/repo/ubuntu stable-bionic main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable.list'

That should make the Mono repository available on Ubuntu

Install Mono

Now that the Mono repository and key are added, run the commands below to finally install it.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install mono-complete

If you’re going to be building a .NET project, the easiest way to do it is by using MonoDevelop IDE. To install MonoDevelop, run the commands below:

sudo apt install monodevelop

Use MonoDevelop to build your apps.

If you’re going to be running the NUnit Unit Tests, you should install the NUnit Plugin for MonoDevelop.  To do that, run the commands below:

sudo apt install monodevelop-nunit

To verify if Mono is installed, run the commands below:

mono --version

You should see similar lines below:

Output:
Mono JIT compiler version 6.6.0.161 (tarball Tue Dec 10 10:36:32 UTC 2019)
Copyright (C) 2002-2014 Novell, Inc, Xamarin Inc and Contributors. www.mono-project.com
	TLS:           __thread
	SIGSEGV:       altstack
	Notifications: epoll
	Architecture:  amd64
	Disabled:      none
	Misc:          softdebug 
	Interpreter:   yes
	LLVM:          yes(610)
	Suspend:       hybrid
	GC:            sgen (concurrent by default)

That should do it

Conclusion:

This post shows you how to install Mono and related development tools on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04. If you find any error above, please comment below:

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