How To Install Erlang on Ubuntu 22.04|20.04|18.04

Erlang is a functional, general-purpose, concurrent programming language and garbage-collected runtime environment supported and maintained by Ericsson OTP product unit.

Erlang programming language was built for concurrency, fault tolerance, and distributed application architectures. OTP (Open Telecom Platform) is a collection of libraries and middleware for Erlang. This guide will show you how you can install and use the latest release of  Erlang/OTP on Ubuntu 22.04|20.04|18.04 LTS.

Step 1: Import Erlang GPG Key

Run the following commands to import Erlang repository GPG key:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install curl software-properties-common apt-transport-https lsb-release
curl -fsSL https://packages.erlang-solutions.com/ubuntu/erlang_solutions.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/erlang.gpg

Step 2: Add Erlang Repository to Ubuntu 22.04|20.04|18.04

Once you have imported the key, add the repository to your Ubuntu 22.04|20.04|18.04 system by running the following commands:

Ubuntu 22.04:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install erlang

Ubuntu 20.04 / 18.04:

echo "deb https://packages.erlang-solutions.com/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/erlang.list

Step 3: Install Erlang on Ubuntu 22.04|20.04|18.04

The last step is the actual installation of Erlang. Update your system package list and install Erlang:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install erlang

To start  Erlang shell, run the command:

$ erl
Erlang/OTP 24 [erts-12.1.4] [source] [64-bit] [smp:4:4] [ds:4:4:10] [async-threads:1] [jit]

Eshell V12.1.4  (abort with ^G)
1> ^G
 --> q

After the shell is started, another prompt is printed. You can test by writing a simple Hello World Erlang code.

$ vim hello.erl
% This is a test Hello World Erlang Code
-module(hello).
-import(io,[fwrite/1]).
-export([helloworld/0]).

helloworld() ->
   fwrite("Hello, Erlang World!\n").

Compile it from the Erlang shell. Don’t forget the full-stop (“period“) at the end of each command.

$ erl
Erlang/OTP 21 [erts-10.1] [source] [64-bit] [smp:2:2] [ds:2:2:10] [async-threads:1]

Eshell V10.1  (abort with ^G)
1> c(hello).
{ok,hello}

Then run the program from the Erlang shell:

2> hello:helloworld().
Hello, Erlang World!
ok
3> ^G
--> q

See below screenshot:

You now have a working Erlang on your Ubuntu22.04|20.04|18.04 LTS server/Desktop.