Prerequisites

Prerequisites

This page explains how to get the software you need to use on Linux or macOS for local development.

• Java 25 package or newer

• git installed

• docker installed

Note: For contributing, you must have a GitHub account to be able to raise PRs.

For Linux

1. Install OpenJDK 25 package or newer:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-25-jdk

• Check the java version using the command java -version.

openjdk 25.0.1 2025-10-21
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 25.0.1+8-27)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.0.1+8-27, mixed mode, sharing)

Note: In case OpenJDK 25 is not set as your default Java, run

sudo update-alternatives --config java

to list all installed Java versions.

Selection    Path                                            Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
* 0            /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java      1111      auto mode
  1            /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java      1111      manual mode
  2            /usr/lib/jvm/java-16-openjdk-amd64/bin/java      1051      manual mode
  3            /usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64/bin/java      1021      manual mode
  4            /usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk-amd64/bin/java      1001      manual mode
  5            /usr/lib/jvm/java-25-openjdk-amd64/bin/java      1001      manual mode

Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number:

You can set it as the default by entering the selection number for it in the list and pressing Enter. For example, to set Java 25 as the default, you would enter 5 and press Enter.

1. Install git:

sudo apt install git

1. Install docker:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sudo add-apt-repository -y "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal stable"
apt-cache policy docker-ce
sudo apt -y install docker-ce

To execute the docker Command without sudo:

sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}
su - ${USER}
sudo chmod 666 /var/run/docker.sock

For macOS

1. Install brew.

2. Install brew cask:

brew cask

1. Install openjdk 25 via Homebrew:

brew install openjdk@25

1. Verify Installation

java -version

Note: In case OpenJDK 25 is not set as your default Java, you can consider including it in your $PATH after installation

export PATH="$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 25)/bin:$PATH"
export JAVA_HOME="$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 25)"

If java_home doesn't recognize homebrew installed java you can run below cmd to symlink brew installed Java path to jvm

sudo ln -sfn $(brew --prefix openjdk@21)/libexec/openjdk.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk-25.jdk

Tips

Consider allocating at least 4GB of memory for your docker. Otherwise, some apps within a stack (e.g. kafbat-ui.yaml) might crash.

To check how much memory is allocated to docker, use docker info.

You will find the total memory and used memory in the output. if you won't find used memory that means memory limits are not set for containers.

To allocate 4GB of memory for Docker:

MacOS

Edit docker daemon settings within docker dashboard

For Ubuntu

1. Open the Docker configuration file in a text editor using the following command:

sudo nano /etc/default/docker

1. Add the following line to the file to allocate 4GB of memory to Docker:

DOCKER_OPTS="--default-ulimit memlock=-1:-1 --memory=4g --memory-swap=-1"

1. Save the file and exit the text editor.

2. Restart the Docker service using the following command:

sudo service docker restart

1. Verify that the memory limit has been set correctly by running the following command:

docker info | grep -i memory

Note that the warning messages are expected as they relate to the kernel not supporting cgroup memory limits.

Now any containers you run in docker will be limited to this amount of memory. You can also increase the memory limit as per your preference.

Where to go next

In the next section, you'll learn how to Build and Run kafbat-ui.