[GNC-dev] WSL 2 and GnuCash

[Sherlock]

If you haven’t recently, you may want to evaluate WSL again.

I’ve been successful using the distribution GnuCash (4.8), the flatpack GnuCash (5.4.1), and a GnuCash build environment on the default WSL distro (ubuntu) without any additional software or configuration required on Windows 10.0.19045.  The Linux VM’s X GUIs are displayed to the Window VM's Remote Desktop out of the box and a Windows GnuCash Start menu shortcut even appeared after I installed the distributed GnuCash.


Here are my installation notes:


Install WSL as Administrator:

wsl —install


Install distributed GnuCash:

sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y install python3-gi python3-gi-cairo gir1.2-gtk-3.0
sudo apt -y install adwaita-icon-theme-full
sudo apt -y install gnucash

sudo apt -y install make gcc
sudo gnc-fq-update


Install flatpack GnuCash:

sudo apt -y install flatpak
sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
sudo flatpak install --system flathub org.gnucash.GnuCash


Set up build environment:

sudo sed -i "s/^# deb-src/deb-src/" /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y build-dep gnucash
sudo apt -y install git
sudo apt -y install p7zip-full
sudo apt install at-spi2-core

mkdir -p ~/Documents/gnucash/source
mkdir -p ~/Documents/gnucash/build

git clone https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash.git ~/Documents/gnucash/source

cd ~/Documents/gnucash/source
git checkout 5.4


Build instructions:

cd ~/Documents/gnucash/build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/gnucash ~/Documents/gnucash/source
make
sudo make install

sudo /opt/gnucash/bin/gnc-fq-update



On Jul 26, 2020, at 11:38 AM, John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:
> Oh. I thought that WSL2 didn't require the XServer. I did look at the WSL2 installation page (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10) yesterday and it's indeed a geeks-only undertaking at this point.
> 
> It looks like we'll be stuck with MinGW for the foreseeable future.
> 
> Regards,
> John Ralls
> 
> 
> > On Jul 26, 2020, at 7:42 AM, Chris Graves <mohavebaked at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > From memory...
> > and unfortunately at this point,not user friendly.
> > 
> > With Windows 10 version 2004 installed:
> > Open the Turn Windows Features on or off dialog
> > Select Windows Subsystem for Linux and Virtual Machine Platform options
> > Installed to WSL, a very striped down Fedora from https://github.com/yosukes-dev/FedoraWSL
> > Used wsl to convert FedoraWSL from version 1 to version 2 "wsl --set-version fedora32 2"
> > Logged into Fedora via the command "wsl"
> > used dnf to install xfce, gnucash and several other utilities
> > created a user account with the name matching my windows username
> > in .bashrc set the DISPLAY variable "export DISPLAY=localhost:0"
> > Back in windows, installed a windows X server: https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/
> > Launched the X server with the display set to 0
> > Created a shortcut with target: C:\Windows\System32\wsl.exe -u chris bash -l -c gnucash
> > (when logging in to fedora via the wsl command, the .bashrc was not being executed so DISPLAY wasn't being set
> > thus - bash -l -c gnucash)
> > Double clicked the shortcut and voila -- GnuCash
> > Used the file->open dialog to open my data file -- BTW, the default directory here was my Windows user directory
> > 
> > The process is a bit tedious and not something a typical user should be asked to do, but it did work and was a fun exercise. Note that all the GC config and AQB stuff lives in the users Linux home dir.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Sat, Jul 25, 2020 at 12:05 PM John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > > On Jul 25, 2020, at 10:32 AM, Chris Graves <mohavebaked at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > 
> > > GnuCash on Fedora in WSL2 on Windows 10. Launched from desktop shortcut.
> > > 
> > > https://imgur.com/a/ORivN9q
> > > _______________________________________________
> > 
> > Cool. How did you install it?
> > 
> > Regards,
> > John Ralls
> > 
> >