If you’re managing Kubernetes daily, OpenLens can give you valuable insights into your clusters. This post will guide you through building and installing OpenLens on a Linux system as an open-source alternative to Lens.

The Problem

Lens, a popular Kubernetes IDE, now requires users to create a Lens ID, which was not required before. This change has pushed many users to seek alternatives. More details about this issue can be found on GitHub: Lens GitHub Issue #5444.

The Solution

OpenLens is the open-source equivalent of Lens, free from proprietary components and licensed under MIT. Here’s how to build and install OpenLens on Linux.

Automated Process

If you want to automate the process, follow these steps to install OpenLens:

1. Install git:

   sudo apt-get install -y git
   

2. Clone the build script from GitHub and compile the OpenLens package:

   git clone https://github.com/lisenet/openlens-linux-install.git
   cd ./openlens-linux-install
   ./install_openlens.sh
   

This will build and install OpenLens from source.

Manual Process: Install Dependencies

For users who prefer a manual installation process, follow the steps below to build OpenLens:

1. Install Build Dependencies

Install the required build dependencies for a Debian-based OS:

sudo apt-get install -y curl g++ make tar

2. Install NVM (Node Version Manager)

To manage Node.js versions, install NVM:

curl -sS -o install_nvm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh
bash ./install_nvm.sh
export NVM_DIR="${HOME}/.nvm"
source "${NVM_DIR}/nvm.sh"

3. Get OpenLens Source Code

Download the OpenLens source code:

curl -sL -o openlens.tgz https://github.com/lensapp/lens/archive/refs/tags/v6.1.0.tar.gz
tar xf ./openlens.tgz
mv ./lens-* ./lens

Since we’re building on a Debian-based OS, we can remove the RPM build steps:

sed -i '/\"rpm\"\,/d' ./lens/package.json

4. Build and Install OpenLens

To compile and install the OpenLens package, follow these steps:

cd ./lens
nvm install 16 && nvm use 16 && npm install -g yarn
make build

After building, install the generated .deb package:

find ./dist/ -type f -name "*.deb" -exec sudo apt-get install {} \;

5. Clean Up

Once installed, clean up the temporary files:

cd ../
rm -rf ./lens
rm -f ./install_nvm.sh ./openlens.tgz

Now you can enjoy using OpenLens, the open-source version of Lens IDE!

Final Thoughts

Migrating from Lens to OpenLens offers a license-friendly, open-source solution without the need for a Lens ID. With OpenLens, you maintain the same Kubernetes insights without any proprietary components.

Build and Install OpenLens on Linux

Follow this guide to build and install OpenLens on Linux, a powerful Kubernetes IDE free of proprietary restrictions.