How to Install Helm on Linux

Introduction

Deploying applications to Kubernetes is a complicated process. Many tools simplify this process, and one of them is Helm.

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that configures and deploys applications and services on a Kubernetes cluster. It uses Helm charts to simplify the development and deployment process.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to install Helm on Linux

Install Helm

Helm supports installations on Linux. Before installing Helm on any operating system, it is necessary to set up a Kubernetes cluster.

This guide shows how to install the Helm CLI. Helm can be installed either from source, or from pre-built binary releases.

Installing Helm on Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS/RHEL/Fedora

1. Download the latest version of Helm using the following command:

wget https://get.helm.sh/helm-v3.6.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz

The terminal prints out a confirmation message when the download completes.

Note: Go to this link below to get updates about the latest version of helm and copy the link address then download it with wget command such as in the previous command.

2. Next, unpack the Helm file using the tar command:

tar xvf helm-v3.6.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz 

The output displays four unpacked files.

3. Move the linux-amd64/helm file to /usr/local/bin directory: 

sudo mv linux-amd64/helm /usr/local/bin

There will be no output if the command was executed correctly.

4. Remove the downloaded file using the command:

rm helm-v3.6.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz 

5. Remove the linux-amd64 directory to clean up space by running:

rm -rf linux-amd64

6. Finally, verify you have successfully installed Helm by checking the version of the software:

helm version

The terminal prints out the version number of the software, as well as the release numbers of GitCommit, GitTreeState, and GoVersion.

Also you can follow this steps in CentOS as shown :

NOTE:

We just downloaded Helm from the Helm project which includes :

1. Binary Releases which we already used it to install our Helm
2. Script.

Also you can install Helm Through Package Managers which includes:

1. Apt for (Debian/Ubuntu)
2. Snap
3. pkg for (FreeBSD)
4. From Source
5. Canary Builds

Install Helm with the Script from Helm Project

Helm now has an installer script that will automatically grab the latest version of Helm and install it locally.

You can fetch that script, and then execute it locally. It’s well documented so that you can read through it and understand what it is doing before you run it.

$ curl -fsSL -o get_helm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/master/scripts/get-helm-3
$ chmod 700 get_helm.sh
$ ./get_helm.sh

Install Helm through Package Managers

The Helm community provides the ability to install Helm through operating system package managers. These are not supported by the Helm project and are not considered trusted 3rd parties.

1. Apt for (Debian/Ubuntu)

Members of the Helm community have contributed a Helm package for Apt. This package is generally up to date.

$ curl https://baltocdn.com/helm/signing.asc | sudo apt-key add -

$ sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https --yes

$ echo "deb https://baltocdn.com/helm/stable/debian/ all main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helm-stable-debian.list

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install helm

2. Snap

The Snapcrafters community maintains the Snap version of the Helm package:

sudo snap install helm --classic

3. pkg for (FreeBSD)

Members of the FreeBSD community have contributed a Helm package build to the FreeBSD Ports Collection. This package is generally up to date.

pkg install helm

4. Source

Building Helm from source is slightly more work, but is the best way to go if you want to test the latest (pre-release) Helm version.

You must have a working Go environment.

$ git clone https://github.com/helm/helm.git
$ cd helm
$ make

5. Canary Builds

“Canary” builds are versions of the Helm software that are built from the latest master branch. They are not official releases, and may not be stable. However, they offer the opportunity to test the cutting edge features.

Canary Helm binaries are stored at get.helm.sh. Here are link to the common builds: Linux AMD64

Conclusion

In most cases, installation is as simple as getting a pre-built helm binary. This document covers additional cases for those who want to do more sophisticated things with Helm.