WSL Issues for terminal citizens

wsl_unix_citizen.md

WSL Issues for Terminal Citizens

Practical fixes for real-world Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) problems faced by developers who live in the terminal and expect Linux-correct behavior.

This guide focuses on:

• Minimal and reversible changes
• No hacks unless unavoidable
• Predictable Linux semantics

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Issue 1: Git commands are very slow on /mnt/*

Symptom

When a Git repository is located on the Windows filesystem:

/mnt/c/Users/.../project

Git commands such as:

• git status
• git diff
• git add

are painfully slow.

Root Cause:

• /mnt/* is backed by Windows NTFS
• WSL must translate filesystem calls
• Git performs many small stat() operations
• Performance degradation is unavoidable

Move repositories into the WSL filesystem: /home/<user>/projects

This provides native Linux Git performance.

Alternative: Automatically use Windows git.exe on /mnt/[path/to/git/dir]

If repositories must remain on /mnt/c, use Windows Git automatically.

Add this function to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

git() {
    if pwd | grep -q '^/mnt/'; then
        git.exe "$@"
    else
        command git "$@"
    fi
}

Advantages:

• Fast Git operations on Windows paths
• Native Linux Git elsewhere
• Transparent behavior

Issue 2: sudo shows sud.dll

Root Cause

• Windows PATH is exposed inside WSL
• Shell completion scans all PATH entries
• Windows DLLs appear in tab completion

Fix (Minimal and Safe)

bash

1. Add to ~/.bashrc:

export FIGNORE='*.dll'

2. Reload:

source ~/.bashrc

zsh

1. Add to ~/.zshrc

zstyle ':completion:*' ignored-patterns '*.dll'

2. Reload:

source ~/.zshrc

Result

• No PATH changes
• Windows tools remain usable
• Only tab completion is affected

Feel free to leave your comments here :)