# Editors for Fortran development under Linux **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [April 22, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867 "2026-04-22T18:36:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jcollins](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/jcollins/32/540_2.png) [@Jcollins](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/Jcollins)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/1 "2026-04-22T18:36:59Z")
Under Linux we use UltraEdit for Fortran development. It has syntax colouring, supports large number of open files and has all of the usual editing facilities including column format. But it crashes. Mean time between failures is about 3 hours and the crashes are not recoverable. Can anyone recommend an alternative? ---
**Author:** ![hkvzjal](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/hkvzjal/32/3055_2.png) [@hkvzjal](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/hkvzjal)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 6:44pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/2 "2026-04-22T18:44:24Z")
> **[Download Visual Studio Code - Mac, Linux, Windows](https://code.visualstudio.com/download)** > > Visual Studio Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, macOS, and Windows. Download Visual Studio Code to experience a redefined code editor, optimized for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications. VSCode works on all OS and with almost any file format you can think off. I use it daily and natively on Windows and Linux. ---
**Author:** ![jkd2022](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/jkd2022/32/1949_2.png) [@jkd2022](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/jkd2022)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/3 "2026-04-22T19:09:46Z")
I highly recommend [jEdit](https://www.jedit.org/). It runs under Java, is cross-platform, supports modern Fortran syntax highlighting and has an extensive plugin library. I’ve been using jEdit for Fortran coding for over a decade and crashes have been extremely rare. ---
**Author:** ![rwmsu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/48db29/32.png) [@rwmsu](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/rwmsu)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 7:19pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/4 "2026-04-22T19:19:48Z")
I use vim and it NEVER crashes 😄 ---
**Author:** ![RonShepard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@RonShepard](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/RonShepard)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/5 "2026-04-22T19:29:06Z")
I’ve been using emacs for over 40 years, long before linux existed. It has more features than I have ever used during that time. ---
**Author:** ![fxm](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/fxm/32/5726_2.png) [@fxm](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/fxm)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/6 "2026-04-22T19:37:21Z")
I have been using [Kate](https://kate-editor.org) for most projects (Fortran and other) in the past 15 years and it hasn’t crashed once. (I like KDE the software ecosystem in general). Before that and in between, I also used [Emacs](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/) quite a bit. Never had any issues with it, but it’s half an operating system. ---
**Author:** ![rwmsu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/48db29/32.png) [@rwmsu](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/rwmsu)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/7 "2026-04-22T19:41:13Z")
I had a sysop for a large government HPC system joke that Emacs was as much lifestyle and religion for some folks as it was a text editor. He also resisted installing it on the system login nodes because he claimed it would quickly gobble up all of the available memory on a node. Don’t know if thats true or not. ---
**Author:** ![certik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/certik/32/4_2.png) [@certik](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/certik)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/8 "2026-04-22T20:53:50Z")
I use Vim and VSCode on all three platforms (Linux, macOS and Windows). ---
**Author:** ![rwmsu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/48db29/32.png) [@rwmsu](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/rwmsu)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 1:53am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/9 "2026-04-23T01:53:53Z")
This thread got me thinking about alternatives to vim on Linux (there are several that show up in my Linux Mint software manager). However, my two favorite editors are my first interactive editor (EDT on VAX/VMS) and the Enhanced Editor on OS/2. I searched to see if anyone had ported either one of these to Linux and was surprised to see that a mostly compatiable version of [EDT](https://sourceforge.net/projects/edt-text-editor/) exits. Anyone tried it. The Enhanced Editor is still the most powerful editor I’ve used since you could write scripts (some variant of REXX if I remember correctly) that could do just about anything you would ever want to do with an editor. ---
**Author:** ![jorgeg](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/jorgeg/32/6835_2.png) [@jorgeg](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/jorgeg)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 1:57am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/10 "2026-04-23T01:57:26Z")
I am eagerly waiting for an equivalent to [this funny video about emacs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urcL86UpqZc) to have a vim equivalent. I use vim for most of my work and vscode when I am exploring a new codebase, if I am already familiar with it I just vim my way through life. ---
**Author:** ![wspector](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/47e85d/32.png) [@wspector](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/wspector)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 6:38am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/11 "2026-04-23T06:38:23Z")
gedit and vi(m). ---
**Author:** ![loiseaujc](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/loiseaujc/32/4582_2.png) [@loiseaujc](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/loiseaujc)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 11:54am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/12 "2026-04-23T11:54:07Z")
I used emacs (either spacemacs or doom) for 10-15 years and transition to neovim 5 years ago. Really happy with it. ---
**Author:** ![rwmsu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/48db29/32.png) [@rwmsu](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/rwmsu)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 1:45pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/13 "2026-04-23T13:45:28Z")
Found this recent article on [50 text editors for Linux](https://linuxblog.io/50-linux-text-editors/). Along with the usual suspects there are some new ones written in Rust that look interesting. In particular, the [Zed editor](https://zed.dev/) which claims to allow integration with LLMs. There appears to be Fortran support via a third party plugin (I think it uses a language server). ---
**Author:** ![urbanjost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/0ea827/32.png) [@urbanjost](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/urbanjost)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/14 "2026-04-23T13:55:56Z")
Personally I use vim and a .exrc file dating back to vi that I used long ago to add the functions I wanted. On the PC VScode is used the most; on GNU/Linux gedit, vim, emacs are the three most popular around my haunts. Was personally surprised to find gedit was the most popular. Other editors are used but just a user here or there. Used to have to use so many editors (EDT, FSE, XEDIT, emacs, vi, …) that I was thrilled when I learned how programmable xterm is; and created key maps for each OS so that you could hit the same keys in any of the editors and get the same operation. It was very popular because many people had to work on the IBM, Prime, DataGeneral, NOS, VMS, … systems. Do not miss having to know eight different commands to list my filenames. Although catlist had some functionality that ls does not have to this day. … used to teach an Emacs course, do not even remember how to use it; remember calling vi more than one four-letter word when first using it; basically do not use anything else anymore. ---
**Author:** ![rgaelzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@rgaelzer](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/rgaelzer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 12:31am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/15 "2026-04-24T00:31:31Z")
I also have been using Kate. However, it irks me that apparently is not possible to open the files in a project as read-only, to avoid accidental edits. ---
**Author:** ![dwannetts](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/dwannetts/32/6530_2.png) [@dwannetts](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/dwannetts)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 1:14am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/16 "2026-04-24T01:14:24Z")
Sure. Happy to recommend [Sublime](https://www.sublimetext.com/). It has plugins to recognise many languages and can open directories as projects if that’s your thing. I don’t recall it crashing despite the abuse I’ve subjected it to since Ubuntu 16.04. ---
**Author:** ![eelis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c6cbf5/32.png) [@eelis](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/eelis)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 4:19am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/17 "2026-04-24T04:19:47Z")
[![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/fortran_lang/original/2X/0/005eea0b32c8804779526d408d051d03fbd746e0.jpeg "Interview with a VIM Enthusiast") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n1dtmzqnCU) ---
**Author:** ![jorgeg](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/jorgeg/32/6835_2.png) [@jorgeg](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/jorgeg)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 4:25am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/18 "2026-04-24T04:25:36Z")
how had I not seen this, I am dumb hahaha ---
**Author:** ![MattAl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@MattAl](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/MattAl)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 7:19am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/19 "2026-04-24T07:19:34Z")
Having to standardize a dev environment across an academic group I’ve opted for VS Code. - Modern Fortran + `fortls` are **amazing**. They are also trivial to set up on Linux, especially with a well defined `.vscode/settings.json` in the repository. - Supports other languages just as fine or better than Fortran. For example, Python support is top notch. - It’s free. I can’t imagine the pain trying to go through procurement for an IDE/Editor. - It’s Microsoft. For managed devices especially, IT lowers their guard for anything M$ related. I’ll take it. We are not even allowed Firefox or Chrome installed, less common IDEs can be much harder to get approved or supported. - It interfaces with _ **HPC** _ nicely. By using the “Remote Development” extension one can set up a persistent SSH connection to the login node (if that’s permitted. It mostly is, from what I’ve seen). There is a caveat: the remote tooling relies on `Node.js` running on the frontend/login node. With a handful of users this is usually fine; at larger scale it can become an avoidable source of CPU load, so local policy matters. - Remote editing can be a blessing for a lot of users - The Explorer GUI is very useful (most basic filesystem operations supported) - It also lets you move files to and from the HPC from the Explorer pane: Copy/paste or drag/drop and right-click-\>download. Handy, especially if opsec has disabled direct SSH access making `rsync` impossible. - Git integration is very very good. Personal favourite is partial staging by highlighting diff -\>Stage Selected Ranges (or use a keyboard shortcut) - Terminal integration is good. Much better than using `putty` or `mobaxterm` (for those coming from Windows or use VSCode from WSL) and at least on par with the basic Ubuntu terminal. On the flip side, I’ve seen it crash, though rarely. It can be a bit slow for extremely large projects. It needs careful configuration for the watcher/indexing of files. Given its release cadence, version mismatches are not unheard of. They are a pain to diagnose, especially remotely for other people. ---
**Author:** ![septc](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/septc/32/77_2.png) [@septc](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/septc)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867/20 "2026-04-24T20:42:43Z")
I have been using Emacs for about 30 years 😅, but I would like to use VScode also because it seems to have a lot of useful functionality… 😉 [Next page](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/editors-for-fortran-development-under-linux/10867.md?page=2)