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WSL

Last modified: 04 April 2024

WSL (WSL 2) – Windows Subsystem for Linux – is a compatibility layer for running Linux binary executables natively on Windows 10 and later. Currently, it supports several Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, and SLES.

note

For better performance, we recommend using WSL as a remote interpreter and storing your project in the Windows file system instead of WSL.

Configure WSL

  1. Download and install a WSL distribution (for instance, Ubuntu) from Microsoft Store.

    For this step, be sure to use at least Windows 10 or later with the latest “Fall Creators Update” (minimum version 1709, build 16299.15). See the official guide Install the Windows Subsystem for Linux for instructions.

    To work with WSL 2, your Windows version should be 10 build 18917 or later. Follow these instructions to switch the distributive.

  2. Run the Linux distribution.

    Upon the first launch, the system may prompt you to enable the Windows optional feature. In this case, you need to do the following:

    • Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator and run 

      Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

    • Restart your computer.

  3. (Optional) If your Linux distribution doesn't come with rsync, you need to install it, for example:

    apt-get install rsync

Configure WSL as a remote interpreter

RubyMine allows you to use the remote Ruby interpreter installed on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL and WSL 2) for your local projects.

Custom WSL distributions

RubyMine allows you to use custom Linux distributions run on WSL. This can be done by editing the wsl.distributions.xml configuration file created by RubyMine automatically after detecting WSL.

Add a custom distribution

  1. Open the %APPDATA%\JetBrains\<product><version>\config\options\wsl.distributions.xml file.

  2. Add the descriptor element and provide settings to access your custom distribution. Note that the id value should be unique. For example:

    <!-- ... -->
<descriptor>
    <id>DEBIAN_CUSTOM</id>
    <microsoft-id>Debian</microsoft-id>
    <executable-path>debian-custom.exe</executable-path>
    <presentable-name>Debian GNU/Linux - Custom</presentable-name>
</descriptor>
<!-- ... -->

    You can specify executable-path in two ways:

    • Specify the executable name of a custom distribution. In this case, RubyMine will find a custom distribution in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WindowsApps.

    • Specify the absolute path to the custom distribution executable.

  3. Restart RubyMine and add your custom distribution as a remote interpreter.