Flex development on Linux, what's a good free environment?

Question

I would like to develop Adobe Flex applications using Linux and a free environment. I'd prefer a free as in freedom alternative, but as in beer would work as well. ;-)

Are any of you developing Adobe Flex rich internet applications using such an environment? Or should I face the "facts" that Flex Builder is an essential tool for Flex development and that I'm more or less lost without it?

Solution 1

I use TextMate to do some Flex hacking on my home computer (a PowerBook G4 which can't run FlexBuilder) and I have no trouble writing applications. It depends if you are so used to IDE support that you cannot live without it. I like code completion, project management and the debugger in Flex Builder but I can live without it. TextMate isn't free but any text editor that had code coloring for ActionScript would do for me.

I usually use ant to manage my builds and that is free. The Flex SDK is free. That is all you need plus a little patience.

Solution 2

Personally I only have experience with the free aplha release of Flex builder for Linux built on Eclipse. But I must say it is already pretty stable and it provides most features found in the full releases for mac osx and windows. Perhaps the most annoying thing that's missing is the gui editor to quickly lay out your forms.

If you are looking for another option, however, maybe this will be of any help: http://www.williambrownstreet.net/wordpress/?p=78

It's not an IDE though

Solution 3

You can use plugin fb4linux for eclipse in http://code.google.com/p/fb4linux/ It run perfectly in eclipse 3.6 helios, you can choose flex 3 or flex 4 sdk and you can't recognize this plugin with Flex Builder stand alone verson of Adobe with hight light, auto complete code... good luck.

Solution 4

If you create a set up using the flex-mojos maven plugin you can set up a build environment very easily without the need to have a flex builder license. Then you are able to use any text editor to edit Action Script and run a compile along with FlexUnit tests by simply calling mvn package.

Solution 5

Try the official Adobe Flex Builder Linux Alpha:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flex/flexbuilder_linux/

I haven't used it yet, but I'm definitely planning on doing it.

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