Last updated on Monday, September 29, 2025

Tools Setup

We recommend using GNU/Linux or macOS for this course (this is what most of the staff uses). We will only offer best-effort support for Windows.

Make sure that the paths to your projects (the names of files, and folders that contain them, all the way up) do not contain spaces, special characters, or non-English letters. This is especially relevant on Windows, where, for instance, usernames containing spaces or special characters have caused issues in the past.

If you encounter an issue and cannot continue following the tools setup steps because of it, check out our Troubleshooting Guide and see if you can find the solution to your problem there.

Install the software on your computer

Step 1: Install Scala

Follow the “Install Scala on your computer” section of the instructions on the Scala website.

At some point, the Coursier setup program will ask: “No JVM found, should we try to install one? [Y/n]”. Respond “y” (for “yes”) and press Enter / ⏎. Similarly, when it asks about updating the PATH environment variable, respond “y”.

On macOS, you might need to first install the Homebrew package manager if it is not already installed.

On some Linux distributions (e.g. Ubuntu), you might see an error message, “curl: command not found”. In that case, use the following alternative command:

$ wget -qO- https://github.com/coursier/coursier/releases/latest/download/cs-x86_64-pc-linux.gz | gzip -d > cs && chmod +x cs && ./cs setup

(The $ in the command above is called the prompt and isn’t part of the command. It’s a convention used to indicate that you should type the text after the $ sign and then press the Enter or ⏎ key to execute the command.)

Restart your computer after the installation.

Verify installation

To verify that Scala was installed correctly, run:

scala --version

If the installation was successful, it should print your Scala version.

Step 2: Install Visual Studio Code

Follow the instructions on the Visual Studio Code website for your operating system:

Step 3: Install Metals

Install the “Scala (Metals)” VS Code extension:

Step 4: Install git

Git is a version control system. You will learn more about it in the first software-engineering lecture. For now, you just need to install and configure it.

On Ubuntu and Debian

sudo apt update && sudo apt install git

On other Linux distributions

Use your distribution’s recommended package manager.

On macOS

brew install git

On Windows

Download and install git.

Verify installation

To verify that Git was installed correctly, run:

git --version

If the installation was successful, it should print your Git version.

Step 5: Install OpenSSH

On Ubuntu and Debian

sudo apt update && sudo apt install openssh-client

On macOS and Windows 11

Nothing to do, OpenSSH is pre-installed.

On Windows 10

Enable “OpenSSH Client” from the “optional features” menu.

Step 6: Setup SSH Authentication with EPFL GitLab

Git needs to be configured with an “SSH Key” to be able access exercises and labs for this course.

Windows users: please run the commands below in the Git bash terminal.

Prepare a key pair

It is expected that you do not yet understand everything that is going on while setting up an SSH key. We will learn more during Git lectures and exercises, later in the course.

We now need to create (or locate) a key to authenticate you with Gitlab, the code-sharing platform we use for the course.

First, check if you already have an SSH key pair by running the following command in your terminal:

ls ~/.ssh

If you see files named id_xyz and id_xyz.pub, you already have an SSH key pair and you can kip to the next section. If you don’t see these files, you need to generate a new SSH key pair.

To do so, you can run the following command in your terminal and follow the instructions:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

You can leave the default path to which the key pair is saved.

This command creates a unique “digital identity”, in the form of a private key id_ed25519 and a public key id_ed25519.pub stored in your ~/.ssh directory. We will use this “key pair” to authenticate you to the gitlab.epfl.ch server.

Add the SSH key to your GitLab account

Display the contents of the public key file (.pub) by running the following command in your terminal:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

This will print out your public key in the terminal. Copy it, then:

Go to https://gitlab.epfl.ch, log in with your EPFL account.
Once logged-in, open the sidebar on the left if not already open, click on your profile picture in the top-right corner of the sidebar and select “Preferences”. Alternatively, use this direct link.
Click on “SSH keys” in the left sidebar.
Click on the “Add new key” button.
Paste your public key in the “Key” field, enter a title, and click on the “Add key” button.
You should see your key in the list of SSH keys.

Check that SSH is working

To verify that you can log in using your key, you can run the following command in your terminal:

ssh -T git@gitlab.epfl.ch

If it’s the first time you connect to GitLab, you will this message: The authenticity of host 'gitlab.epfl.ch can't be established. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?. Type yes and press Enter.

Then you can re-run the command and you should see this message: Welcome to GitLab, @your_username!.

If you see this message, then Congrats! 🎉 It means SSH is working and you will be able to access exercises and labs. This completes your local machine’s setup.

Set up the VDI client

In addition to your own machine, some assignments will be done on EPFL’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).

TO help you train, we provide a virtual machine is similar to the one you will use during the exam. All software required for the exercices and labs is already installed.

We encourage you to do some labs and exercices in this training VM, to familiarize yourself with the exam conditions.

Step 1: Install the VDI client

Visit the EPFL VDI webpage and choose Install VMware Horizon Client.

Download the installer and execute it.

Step 2: Connect to the VM

On your computer, run the newly installed VDI client (Omnissa horizon client)

The first time you run the client, you need to setup the connection to the EPFL server. Click on Add Server on the top right. Type “vdi.epfl.ch” and click Connect. When asked, authenticate with your EPFL credentials.

Once connected, open a VM:

CS-214-vc1 if your Sciper ends with an odd number;
CS-214-vc2 if your Sciper ends with an even number.

Step 3: Setup SSH Authentication with EPFL GitLab

Once connected to the VM, you need to setup an SSH key for accessing GitLab. To do so, repeat the instructions provided here inside the VM.

This needs to be done only once: the configuration performed inside the VM will persist.