Set Up Linux for C++ App Development

Development of C++ apps on Linux is supported for:

Amazon Fire TV
Android Touch
Android TV
Roku with You.i Roku Cloud
Samsung TV (Tizen)
LG TV (webOS)

Linux is one of the three available development platforms for You.i Platform. See Choose a Development Platform for a complete list of target platforms and associated development platforms.

Note

If you’re developing a C++ app for Roku with You.i Roku Cloud, you’ll need Ubuntu 18.04.

The instructions below offer a detailed list of mandatory and optional installation components.

Prerequisites

Before you get going, there are a few third-party tools to install.

Note

We recommend using a package manager, such as apt-get, to install Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS), GCC, and OpenGL for Embedded Systems (GLES) rendering libraries.

Install DKMS for VirtualBox

If you’re using VirtualBox to run a Linux guest on a macOS or Windows host, you must install the DKMS package, which allows resolution scaling.

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-dkms

Install GCC for Linux

You.i C++ projects on Linux require GCC 7.4.x to compile correctly. To verify your default version of GCC, run gcc --version. If the displayed version is 7.4.x, you can install the next dependency as you don’t need to update GCC. Otherwise, if the displayed version is not GCC 7.4.x, use apt-get to install and set GCC 7.4.x as the default version.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential software-properties-common gcc g++ -y

Confirm the installed GCC version using gcc --version.

Install GLES Rendering Libraries

Install GLES rendering libraries to render 2D and 3D graphics.

sudo apt-get install xorg-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libxml2-dev
sudo apt-get install libegl1-mesa-dev libgles2-mesa-dev

General Dependencies

Install the recommended versions of Yarn, Watchman, Node.js, CMake, and Ruby (including ruby-build).

Yarn (version 1.13.x through 1.22.x)
- We strongly recommend using yarn version manager to install one of the recommended versions of yarn.
Watchman (version 4.x or higher)
Node.js (version or higher)
- We strongly recommend using node version manager to install one of the recommended versions of node LTS.
Cmake (install the latest 3.19.x version)
Ruby (version 2.0 to 3.x)
ruby-build

When installed, update your PATH variable to include the newly installed packages.

Optional Third-Party Tools

The following tools are optional, but most developers need them. We suggest you install them.

React Native CLI
VLC is needed only if you’re using a video player in a You.i C++ project.

Install You.i Platform

Install the You.i TV command line interface tool. Then, using your provided API key, install You.i Platform.

yarn global add youi-cli
youi-tv login    # Enter your API key or user name when prompted.
youi-tv install 6.15.0 # If asked, accept most recent version of Babel or other dependencies

Our CLI comes with a special command, youi-tv doctor, that verifies the availability and versions of third party tools on your system. Use youi-tv doctor to identify any dependency mismatches. Install any missing tools or versions and run doctor again to verify.

Pro tip

If you’re not planning to develop for a given platform, don’t worry too much about its requirements for now. Just remember the youi-tv doctor command and run it again if you expand your target platforms. You can always use youi-tv doctor --help to get more information about doctor.

What’s Next

Congratulations, you’ve completed the You.i Platform installation for your development platform.

If you’re creating a Roku app, you need to configure environment variables.

Now you can build and generate your first app.