Kubectl

The Kubernetes command-line tool, kubectl , allows you to run commands against Kubernetes clusters.

kubectl is available for Windows, macOS, Linux and supports the Arm architecture.

Before you begin

General installation information is available which covers all supported operating systems, but it doesn’t talk about Arm.

This article provides a quick solution to install kubectl for Ubuntu on Arm.

Confirm you are using an Arm machine by running:

    

        
        
            uname -m
        
    

The output should be:

    

        
        aarch64

        
    

If you see a different result, you are not using an Arm computer running 64-bit Linux.

Download and Install

The easiest way to install kubectl for Ubuntu on Arm is to use curl and copy the executable to a common location.

To install curl, for example on ubuntu:

    

        
        
            sudo apt install -y curl
        
    

Download and install the latest version of kubctl. There is just 1 executable to copy to the desired location.

    

        
        
            curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl"
        
    

If you have sudo or root access, install the executable in a common location for all users.

    

        
        
            sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
        
    

If you do not have sudo or root permission, add executable permission and add the location to the $PATH environment variable.

    

        
        
            chmod +x kubectl
export PATH=$PATH:$HOME
        
    

Confirm the executable is available and get the version of the client:

    

        
        
            kubectl version -o json --client
        
    

You are ready to use the Kubernetes command-line tool, kubectl