In this tutorial, I will go through how to set up the Odoo development environment on Ubuntu 22.04 with Eclipse as the IDE. This tutorial is valid for all Odoo versions from 8.0 to 16.0 and is effective for a fresh Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop with no pre-installed tools e.g. JDK, Python, or Eclipse. You may skip to the next step if you have already installed any of the above-mentioned tools.
Please note that If you want to install Odoo for your server, you may read other posts of mine:
- Install Odoo 8 on Ubuntu 22.04 Server
- Install Odoo 9 on Ubuntu 22.04 Server
- Install Odoo 10 on Ubuntu 22.04 Server
- Install Odoo 11 on Ubuntu 22.04 Server
- Install Odoo 12 on Ubuntu 22.04 Server
- Install Odoo 13 on Ubuntu 22.04 Server
- Install Odoo 14 on Ubuntu 22.04 Server
- Install Odoo 15 on Ubuntu 22.04 Server
- Install Odoo 16 on Ubuntu 22.04 Server
Now, let’s start with my step-by-step instructions to setup your Odoo development environment with Eclipse PyDev and multiple versions of Python and PostgreSQL. This post is so long that may take 2 hours or more. Please be patient!
Prerequisites
To setup Odoo development environment, we need to install various package and software to meet requirements by Python versions and PostgreSQL version.
As usual, we always update our system for latest fixes and updates before any installation
sudo apt update sudo apt dist-upgrade
Install required packages
sudo apt install make build-essential libreadline-dev \ wget curl llvm libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libbz2-dev \ libsqlite3-dev libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev \ xz-utils tk-dev libffi-dev liblzma-dev libgdbm-dev \ libnss3-dev libedit-dev libc6-dev python-setuptools \ libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libsasl2-dev python3-dev \ libldap2-dev libjpeg-dev python2-dev libpq-dev
Reboot your machine then proceed for less compiler installation
Install Less Compiler
Odoo 9 and Odoo 10 and Odoo 11 require less compiler to compile less to css. Here is how we install less
# Install nodejs sudo apt install nodejs # Install Nodejs package manager sudo apt install npm # update for the latest npm sudo npm install -g npm # install less compiler using npm sudo npm install -g less less-plugin-clean-css
Install wkhtmltopdf
Odoo generates PDF from HTML, that’s why we need the wkhtmltopdf.
Download wkhtmltopdf
wget https://github.com/wkhtmltopdf/packaging/releases/download/0.12.6.1-2/wkhtmltox_0.12.6.1-2.jammy_amd64.deb
Install wkhtmltopdf
sudo dpkg -i wkhtmltox_0.12.6.1-2.jammy_amd64.deb # force install dependencies sudo apt -f install
Install PostgreSQL Database Management System
As each Odoo version supports a limited PostgreSQL version. So, we decide to install multiple versions of PostgreSQL to support various Odoo versions from 8.0 to 16.0. In summary:
Add PostgreSQL PPA
# Create the file repository configuration: sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list' # Import the repository signing key: wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/postgresql.gpg # Update the package lists: sudo apt update # Upgrade the system for latest fixes and updates sudo apt dist-upgrade
Install multiple versions of PostgreSQL
In this section, we will install four versions of PostgreSQL that run on different ports:
- PostgreSQL 14: port 5432 (default port), to support Odoo 16
- PostgreSQL 9.6: port 5433, to support Odoo 8, Odoo 9
- PostgreSQL 10: port 5434, to support odoo 10, Odoo 11
- PostgreSQL 12: port 5435, to support Odoo 12, Odoo 13, Odoo 14, Odoo 15
IMPORTANT: the installation order below is IMPORTANT!
Install PostgreSQL 14
sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib
Install PostgreSQL 9.6
sudo apt install postgresql-9.6 postgresql-contrib-9.6 postgresql-client-9.6
Install PostgreSQL 10
sudo apt install postgresql-10 postgresql-client-10
Install PostgreSQL 12
sudo apt install postgresql-12 postgresql-client-12
Create Role for development
In this section, we will create roles for each PostgreSQL version that have the same name as your Linux / Ubuntu account’s. In my case, I will create role name david for those four versions as my Ubuntu login name is david. You should adjust the commands according to your environment.
Create development role for PostgreSQL 14
sudo -u postgres createuser --interactive -p 5432
When the system asks you for access rights configuration for the new role, please input as below

The command above create a role named david that is NOT a superuser but has rights to create database and new roles for PostgreSQL 14.
You now can start do similarly for other versions of PostgreSQL
Create development role for PostgreSQL 9.6
sudo -u postgres createuser --interactive -p 5433
Create development role for PostgreSQL 10
sudo -u postgres createuser --interactive -p 5434
Create development role for PostgreSQL 12
sudo -u postgres createuser --interactive -p 5435
Download Odoo source code from GitHub
In this section, I will guide you to have all Odoo source code from 8 to 16 in fastest way
Download Odoo 8 from GitHub
git clone -b 8.0 https://github.com/odoo/odoo.git ~/git/odoo8
Please note that if you want your Odoo to support later PostgreSQL versions (i.e. PostgreSQL 10, PostgreSQL 12), you could clone the Viindoo’s fork instead, using the command below:
git clone -b 8.0 https://github.com/Viindoo/odoo.git ~/git/odoo8
If you want to use git over SSH for security and performance, you may refer to my instructions on how to clone github repository over SSH.
Copy Odoo 8 and Checkout for other Odoo versions
Instead of doing clone again which takes lots of time, we can just copy the downloaded odoo8 and checkout the branch 9.0.
# copy ~/git/odoo8 to ~/git/odoo9 cp -R ~/git/odoo8 ~/git/odoo9 # checkout the branch 9.0 for Odoo 9 cd ~/git/odoo9 git checkout 9.0
Now, do the same for Odoo 10 and 11 and 12 and 13 and 14 and 15 and 16 then you are done.
# for Odoo 10 cp -R ~/git/odoo8 ~/git/odoo10 cd ~/git/odoo10 git checkout 10.0 # for Odoo 11 cp -R ~/git/odoo8 ~/git/odoo11 cd ~/git/odoo11 git checkout 11.0 # for Odoo 12 cp -R ~/git/odoo8 ~/git/odoo12 cd ~/git/odoo12 git checkout 12.0 # for Odoo 13 cp -R ~/git/odoo8 ~/git/odoo13 cd ~/git/odoo13 git checkout 13.0 # for Odoo 14 cp -R ~/git/odoo8 ~/git/odoo14 cd ~/git/odoo14 git checkout 14.0 # for Odoo 15 cp -R ~/git/odoo8 ~/git/odoo15 cd ~/git/odoo15 git checkout 15.0 # for Odoo 16 cp -R ~/git/odoo8 ~/git/odoo16 cd ~/git/odoo16 git checkout 16.0
Install and Setup Virtual Environment for Python 2.7 and Python 3
With Odoo 8, Odoo9 and Odoo 10, we are required to use Python 2.7 because these Odoo versions do not support Python 3. For Odoo versions after 10 then, in my experience, we will use Python versions for Odoo are as follows:
Odoo vs. Python Versions map
- Odoo 11: Python 3.6
- Odoo 12 and 13: Python 3.7
- Odoo 14 and 15: Python 3.8
- Odoo 16: Python 3.10
Install Python
The installation is quite easy by following my post of Installing multiple Python versions on Ubuntu 22.04. In summary:
Install Python 2
# install Python 2 sudo apt install python2 -y # install pip for Python2 curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/2.7/get-pip.py --output get-pip.py python2 get-pip.py # install virtual environment for Python 2 pip2 install virtualenv
Install Python 3.6 from source
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.6.15/Python-3.6.15.tgz tar -xzf Python-3.6.15.tgz cd Python-3.6.15 ./configure --enable-optimizations --with-lto --with-pydebug make -j 4 # adjust 4 for number of your CPU cores sudo make altinstall
Install Python 3.7, 3.8, 3.10
# Add Deadsnakes PPA sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa # Install Python 3 sudo apt install python3.7 python3.7-dev \ python3.8 python3.8-dev # Install Virtual Environment sudo apt install python3.7-venv python3.8-venv python3.10-venv
Create and Manage Virtual Environments
According to the assumption of Odoo vs. Python versions map, the virtual environments should be created as below:
Create Python 2 Virtual Environment for Odoo 8, 9, 10
Here are commands to create virtual environment and required libraries for Odoo 8
# create virtual environment named odoo8 in ~/python-venv/2.7/odoo8 virtualenv ~/python-venv/2.7/odoo8 # activate the virtual environment source ~/python-venv/2.7/odoo8/bin/activate # upgrade pip for the latest version pip install --upgrade pip # install Odoo 8's required libraries pip install -r ~/git/odoo8/requirements.txt # deactivate the virtual environment deactivate
Here are similar commands to create virtual environment and required libraries for Odoo 9
virtualenv ~/python-venv/2.7/odoo9 source ~/python-venv/2.7/odoo9/bin/activate pip install --upgrade pip pip install -r ~/git/odoo9/requirements.txt deactivate
Here are similar commands to create virtual environment and required libraries for Odoo 10
virtualenv ~/python-venv/2.7/odoo10 source ~/python-venv/2.7/odoo10/bin/activate pip install --upgrade pip pip install -r ~/git/odoo10/requirements.txt deactivate
Create Python 3 Virtual Environment for Odoo 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Creating virtual environments in Python 3 is a little bit different from doing in Python2. It uses Python 3’s venv module instead of binary package as in Python2.
Please also note that all the Odoo versions from 11 can work great with Python 3.7 and Python 3.8. So, in case you don’t want to compile Python 3.6, you could use either 3.7 or 3.8, depending on your requirements.
# create virtual environment named odoo11 in ~/python-venv/3.6/odoo11 python3.6 -m venv ~/python-venv/3.6/odoo11 # activate the virtual environment source ~/python-venv/3.6/odoo11/bin/activate # upgrade pip for the latest version pip install --upgrade pip # install Odoo 11's required libraries pip install -r ~/git/odoo11/requirements.txt # deactivate the virtual environment deactivate
python3.7 -m venv ~/python-venv/3.7/odoo12 source ~/python-venv/3.7/odoo12/bin/activate pip install --upgrade pip pip install -r ~/git/odoo12/requirements.txt deactivate
python3.7 -m venv ~/python-venv/3.7/odoo13 source ~/python-venv/3.7/odoo13/bin/activate pip install --upgrade pip pip install -r ~/git/odoo13/requirements.txt deactivate
python3.8 -m venv ~/python-venv/3.8/odoo14 source ~/python-venv/3.8/odoo14/bin/activate pip install --upgrade pip pip install -r ~/git/odoo14/requirements.txt deactivate
python3.8 -m venv ~/python-venv/3.8/odoo15 source ~/python-venv/3.8/odoo15/bin/activate pip install --upgrade pip pip install -r ~/git/odoo15/requirements.txt deactivate
python3.10 -m venv ~/python-venv/3.10/odoo16 source ~/python-venv/3.10/odoo16/bin/activate pip install --upgrade pip pip install -r ~/git/odoo16/requirements.txt deactivate
Install & Setup Eclipse IDE with PyDev
Install Eclipse & PyDev
You can follow my post of how to install Eclipse with PyDev on Ubuntu 22.04 to complete the IDE installation.
Setup Odoo Projects and Interpreters
Now, start your Eclipse IDE. The general procedure on setup an Odoo project in Pydev includes 2 main steps:
Configure Interpreters for the Odoo projects
- For doing it, Click Windows -> Preference and In the Left Pane,
- Select PyDev > Interpreters > Python Interpreter
- Then on the Right side click New button then select the dropped down menu Browse for python/pypy exe, and select the python binary from the installed path which should be inside /usr/bin/. That is:
- Python 2.7: /usr/bin/python2.7
- Python 3.6: /usr/bin/python3.6
- etc
- Input the name for the Interpreter. The best practice is to name it in form of “Python x.y – project name”. For example, when we configure interpreter for Odoo 8 project, we should name it “Python 2.7 – Odoo 8”.
- Click Apply and the System will automatically detect Your python version and setup paths and rest of environment variables.
- Click OK to Close this Windows once the Eclipse is done setting up Environment.
Create Odoo projects
- From the File menu, select New > PyDev Project
- From the PyDev Project window,
- Input 0. Odoo8 for the box Project Name. We have 0. as the prefix for the project name as we could want these ones to be in the first rows of the project list panel.
- Uncheck the box Use Default and browse for the directory that contains Odoo 8 source code. It is ~/git/odoo8 in our case.
- In the Interpreter box, select the an appropriate interpreter. In this case for Odoo 8 project, we should select the “Python 2.7 – Odoo 8”.
- Now, click Next then click Finish.
Run & Debug Odoo from Eclipse
Now, it’s time to test your Odoo development environment by starting your Odoo in running mode and debugging mode.
- From the left pane, open your Odoo project to find either odoo.py (for Odoo 8 and Odoo 9) or odoo-bin
- Right click on it and Run As > Python Run to start Odoo for the first time. If you want to start it in debugging mode, Debug As > Python Run
Install pgAdmin 4
pgAdmin 4 is a tool that helps you manage your PostgreSQL database using web-based graphical user interface that gives more convenient than using command lines.
You can read my post on how to install pgAdmin 4 on Ubuntu 22.04 and follow the instructions there to install pgAdmin 4 Desktop for your development environment.
Please note that you may not need to install pgAdmin 4 Web. For your development environment, you’d need to install pgAdmin 4 Desktop version only.
What if you are using Window?
Odoo does not officially support running in Window environment. So, I recommend you to not use Windows as Odoo development environment too. If you can not give up your Window, I recommend you to install VirtualBox and set up a Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop virtual machine for Odoo development purpose.