Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) - Ubuntu Setup

wsl_setup.md

Steps for setting up a decent looking WSL Ubuntu terminal

Install and configure the WSL/Ubuntu console:

• Enable WSL on Windows 10 through 'Programs and Features'.
• Install WSL Ubuntu from the Windows Store.
• Launch ubuntu.exe and do initial 'Properties/Defaults' config:
  • Right click on the title bar, select Defaults:
    • Under the Options tab, select Use Ctrl+Shift+C/V as Copy/Paste
    • You might want to increase Buffer Size for Command History under the Options tab, and Height under Layout > Screen Buffer Size: 9001 seems like enough 😄

We're in, and it looks... dark and contrasty! now what?

• Install zsh:
  • sudo apt-get install zsh
  • After it installs, type zsh and choose a configuration (I chose 2)
• Install oh-my-zsh:
  • Using curl:
    sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
  • This will clone the repo and replace the existing ~/.zshrc with a template from oh-my-zsh.
• Configuring zsh/oh-my-zsh:
  • The install might have made zsh your Login Shell, you can check with: chsh, it will print something like:

    Changing the login shell for <name>
    Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
              Login Shell [/usr/bin/zsh]:
    

  • If it already says, as above, /usr/bin/zsh, then you're good to go, if not:
    • Make zsh the default for Bash: chsh -s $(which zsh)
      • Since the Windows 10 Spring 2018 Creator's Update, you can use cshs like you would in mainline Linux systems.
• Changing directory colors:
  • The default colors used in ls at this point have some bad background highlighting issues, let's fix that.
  • Create a .dircolors file as follows: dircolors -p > ~/.dircolors
    • You now have a .dircolors file containing the color configuration for ls, which is stored in the env variable LS_COLORS. What we need to do next is make a change to the colors, and save it back to LS_COLORS.
  • Edit ~/.dircolors, we're removing the background from OTHER_WRITABLE, and fixing the font color for the rest:
    • Change SETUID to: SETUID 00;30;41
    • Change SETGID to: SETUID 00;30;43
    • Change CAPABILITY to: CAPABILITY 00;30;41
    • Change STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE to: STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE 00;30;42
    • Change OTHER_WRITABLE to: OTHER_WRITABLE 01;32
    • Change STICKY to: STICKY 00;30;44
    • Save
  • Edit ~/.zshrc and add the following:
    • eval `dircolors ~/.dircolors`
    • Save and restart ubuntu.exe
• Change the overall terminal Color theme:
  • There's an external tool called ColorTool which customizes the settings found in terminal's Properties/Defaults (mostly the Colors tab) - https://github.com/Microsoft/Console/tree/master/tools/ColorTool
  • Download the tool in Windows: https://github.com/Microsoft/console/releases
  • Unzip it and move it to a location you're happy with, then add it to your PATH variable.
    • This will enable it to be accessible from the WSL terminal (make sure to use the full name with .exe: colortool.exe
  • Open up ubuntu.exe, and run:
    • colortool.exe -b OneHalfDark
    • This will set your current terminal to the /schemes/solarized_dark.itermcolors scheme, and set it as the default.
    • You can try other schemes or get more from: https://github.com/mbadolato/iTerm2-Color-Schemes
• Change themes and colors of oh-my-zsh:
  • Edit the ~/.zshrc file to change the theme (I like https://github.com/agnoster/agnoster-zsh-theme):

  # Find and change this:
  ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"
  
  # To this:
  ZSH_THEME="agnoster"
  

  • External themes: https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/wiki/External-themes
  • Save and restart ubuntu.exe.
• Fix missing font symbols:
  • You'll notice some symbols are missing, this is because you need a Powerline font that will work for Windows + Windows Consoles.
  • Download/clone the following repo: https://github.com/powerline/fonts
  • Open the DejaVuSansMono folder, and install DejaVu Sans Mono for Powerline.ttf
    • This is the only font I found that actually works with all the symbols used in oh-my-zsh agnoster.
  • Right-click on the title-bar of your Ubuntu terminal, select Defaults:
    • In the Font tab, select DejaVu Sans Mono for Powerline
    • In the Colors tab, set Opacity to 90%, you're a real hipster now.
    • Hit OK, then restart ubuntu.exe

Vim Setup

• Vim comes with some default color schemes that you can change, which are found here: /usr/share/vim/vim80/colors
  • You can try a scheme out in vim with: :colorscheme <theme>
  • To have it launch with a given theme, add it to ~/.vimrc: colorscheme elflord
  • You can also grab any number of other vim themes and put them in ~/.vim/colors, where colorscheme will find them by name.
• Gruvbox theme: https://github.com/morhetz/gruvbox

Links used for Theme and Color:

• https://blog.joaograssi.com/windows-subsystem-for-linux-with-oh-my-zsh-conemu/
• https://medium.com/@Andreas_cmj/how-to-setup-a-nice-looking-terminal-with-wsl-in-windows-10-creators-update-2b468ed7c326
• https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/conemu-vs-hyper-vs-terminus-vs-mobaxterm-terminator-vs-ubuntu-wsl
• https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/introducing-the-windows-console-colortool/

Additional links:

• Awesome WSL:
  • https://github.com/sirredbeard/Awesome-WSL
• Keeping Ubuntu WSL up to date:
  • https://www.reddit.com/r/bashonubuntuonwindows/comments/9fvlvs/keeping_ubuntu_wsl_up_to_date/
• tmux setup:
  • https://veerasundar.com/blog/2018/03/how-to-split-the-terminal-into-multiple-views-in-windows-10/
• tmux cheatsheet:
  • https://gist.github.com/henrik/1967800
• Backing up packages and dotfiles:
  • https://askubuntu.com/a/486634/944852