WSL Build

A Sublime Text package to create build systems running in WSL2.

It adds a wsl_exec target that:

• executes Linux commands within Windows Subsystem for Linux 2
• provides Linux paths in variables such as $unix_file
• properly sets environment variables for Linux commands

Execution and printing output is performed by Sublime Text's default exec build target.

Installation

Package Control

The easiest way to install is using Package Control. It's listed as WslBuild.

1. Open Command Palette using ctrl+shift+P or menu item Tools → Command Palette...
2. Choose Package Control: Install Package
3. Find WslBuild and hit Enter

Manual Install

1. Download appropriate WslBuild.sublime-package for your Sublime Text build.
2. Copy it into Installed Packages directory

To find Installed Packages…

1. call Menu > Preferences > Browse Packages..
2. Navigate to parent folder

Clone repository

You can clone this repository into your Sublime Text/Packages

Note

To find Packages folder call Menu > Preferences > Browse Packages…

Mac OS

cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Sublime\ Text/Packages/
git clone https://github.com/SublimeText/WslBuild.git

Linux

cd ~/.config/sublime-text/Packages
git clone https://github.com/SublimeText/WslBuild.git

Windows

cd "%APPDATA%\Sublime Text\Packages"
git clone https://github.com/SublimeText/WslBuild.git

Usage

Defining a Build

Set "target": "wsl_exec" and "cancel": {"kill": true} to be able to cancel a command.

Note

For more information about defining Sublime Text builds see the official documentation

Required Keys

wsl_cmd

Set "wsl_cmd" instead of "cmd". The command array will be executed through WSL.

Can be a string or list of strings.

Note

Build variables such as $file have a $unix_file counter part with unix style paths.

Optional Keys

wsl_working_dir

Set "wsl_working_dir" instead of "working_dir".

Note

Build variables such as $file have a $unix_file counter part with unix style paths.

wsl_env

Set "wsl_env" instead of "env" to set environment variables that are available to the Linux command.

Note

Build variables such as $file have a $unix_file counter part with unix style paths.

Environment variables can be suffixed by conversion flags to specify how their values are treated by WSL.

"MY_PATH/p": "C:\\Path\\to\\File"

is converted to:

1. MY_PATH=/mnt/c/Path/to/File when running unix commands
2. MY_PATH=C:\\Path\\to\\File when running windows commands

For more information about it, visit: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/share-environment-vars-between-wsl-and-windows

Example Build System to run file in WSL:

{
    "target": "wsl_exec",
    "cancel": {"kill": true},
    "wsl_cmd": "./$unix_file",
    "wsl_working_dir": "$unix_file_path",
}

Example Builds for a Rails app in WSL:

"build_systems": [
    {
        "name": "Run Current Spec",
        "target": "wsl_exec",
        "cancel": {"kill": true},
        "wsl_cmd": "bundle exec rake spec"
        "wsl_env": {
            "SPEC/p": "$file"
        },
        "wsl_working_dir": "$unix_folder"
    },
    {
        "name": "Run All Specs",
        "target": "wsl_exec",
        "cancel": {"kill": true},
        "wsl_cmd": [
            "bundle", "exec", "rake", "spec"
        ],
        "wsl_working_dir": "$unix_folder",
    },
    {
        "name": "Run Database Migrations",
        "target": "wsl_exec",
        "cancel": {"kill": true},
        "wsl_cmd": [
            "bundle", "exec", "rake", "db:migrate"
        ],
        "wsl_working_dir": "$unix_folder"
    }
]

Variables

Default Variables

All default variables are provided in unconverted form in case a windows command is being executed within WSL2.

see: https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/build_systems.html#variables

Unix Variables

Converted path variables are provided for unix commands being executed within WSL.

Acknowledgments

Inspired by

• https://github.com/existentialmutt/wsl_build
• OdatNurd's technique here https://github.com/STealthy-and-haSTy/SublimeScraps/blob/master/build_enhancements/custom_build_variables.py