Windows Subsystem (for) Linux

The problem

If you use ssh-agent with an encrypted ssh key it does not persist when you open a new terminal window.

The solution

Use keychain instead.

1. Install

   sudo apt install keychain
   

2. Add to your shells rc file, eg. .bashrc or .zshrc

   # Repeat this line for all keys you want to unlock and use this way
   /usr/bin/keychain -q --nogui $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa
   source $HOME/.keychain/wsl-sh
   

3. Unlock your keys on shell startup and enjoy

The other day I was playing around in WSL with a colleague of mine and we did this:

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The problem: Docker itself can’t be run in WSL2 as it requires the docker daemon, usually run though systemd.

The solution: Podman works just fine and can easily be installed, although we will need to configure some things to make it work properly.

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The path you are in when opening a new WSL tab is determined by startingDirectory. This parameter needs to be a valid Windows path, which isn’t great if we want to end up in /home/kamner inside WSL.

The nice thing about WSL is that it will resolve windows paths into their equivalent WSL/linux path if possible.

For example, C:\Scripts would resolve to /mnt/c/Scripts.

Using this and the neat trick that the WSL filesystem is exposed as a a hidden fileshare ([[technology/windows/wsl-hidden-fileshare]]) we can get to where we want.

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WSL file systems get exposed as a hidden share network share: \\wsl$\<WSL Name>\<path\to\file>

For example, my Debian home folder is at: \\wsl$\Debian\home\kamner