How to Install Rust Programming Language on AlmaLinux 8.10 Systems

Rust is a modern programming language known for its performance and reliability, particularly suited for systems programming. If you’re using AlmaLinux 8.10, a CentOS alternative, and want to install Rust, follow these steps to get up and running.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

• An AlmaLinux 8.10 system
• A user account with sudo privileges
• Internet connectivity to download necessary packages

Step 1: Update Your System

To start, update your system to ensure all existing packages are up to date. Open a terminal and run:

$ sudo dnf update -y

Step 2: Install Required Dependencies

Install the necessary dependencies for Rust. Rust requires curl to download the installation script.

$ sudo dnf install -y curl

Step 3: Download and Install rustup

The recommended way to install Rust is via rustup, a toolchain installer for the Rust programming language. Download and run the installation script with curl:

$ curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

During the installation, you will be prompted to proceed with the installation. Press 1 to proceed with the default installation.

Step 4: Configure the Environment

After installation, you need to configure your current shell environment to include Cargo’s bin directory (where Rust binaries are installed). This can be done by running:

$ source $HOME/.cargo/env

To make this change permanent, add the following line to your .bashrc or .bash_profile file:

$ echo 'source $HOME/.cargo/env' >> ~/.bashrc

Then, reload the shell configuration:

$ source ~/.bashrc

Step 5: Verify the Installation

To confirm that Rust is installed correctly, check the version of Rust and Cargo (Rust’s package manager) by running:

$ rustc --version
$ cargo --version

You should see output similar to:

$ rustc 1.56.0 (09c42c458 2021-10-18)
$ cargo 1.56.0 (4ed5d137b 2021-10-07)

Step 6: Update Rust (Optional)

Rust is frequently updated with new features and improvements. To update Rust to the latest version, use rustup:

$ rustup update

Step 7: Create and Run a Simple Rust Program

To verify that everything is working correctly, you can create and run a simple Rust program. First, create a new directory for your project:

$ mkdir ~/rust-projects
$ cd ~/rust-projects

Create a new Rust project using Cargo:

$ cargo new hello_world
$ cd hello_world

This will create a basic “Hello, world!” program. To run it, use:

$ cargo run

You should see:

Compiling hello_world v0.1.0 (/home/user/rust-projects/hello_world)
    Finished dev [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 2.18s
     Running `target/debug/hello_world`
Hello, world!

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Rust on your AlmaLinux 8.10 system. Rust is now ready for you to start developing robust and high-performance applications. For more information on using Rust, check out the official Rust documentation.