Linux Subsystem for Windows: GnuCash seems to work

[Edward Doolittle]

Hi everyone,

Something that may be of interest to some of you: I just installed the
Linux Subsystem for Windows 10 (LSW) and successfully ran GnuCash. (I just
opened the app and then closed it. I'll try more thorough tests later.) I
don't know who would be interested in this other than developers, but
perhaps someone out there is having trouble getting GnuCash running
properly in Windows and could benefit from an alternative.

Note that X applications are not officially supported under LSW, so there
are occasional bugs (particularly with applications using audio). This is
definitely a try-at-your-own-risk situation. On the other hand, there's
nothing particularly special about an X client: it's just an ordinary
program that communicates with an X server, so I see no problems running an
X client in LSW as long as an X server is running and the two can
communicate.

If you are interested in trying, here are the steps:

1. Install the latest Windows 10 update by running "Windows 10 Update
Assistant". Reboot.
2. Enable Windows Subsystem for Linux by running "Turn Windows Features on
or off". Reboot.
3. Install Ubuntu or another distribution via the Windows Store.
4. Run it. Congratulations, you have a Ubuntu bash shell in Windows.
5. In the bash shell, "sudo apt-get update"
6. In the bash shell, "sudo apt-get install gnucash" (this gets version
2.6.12; other versions can be obtained in other ways)
7. While that is progressing, install an X server in Windows (if you don't
have one already). I got Xming from Sourceforge. Make sure the X server is
running.
8. In the Ubuntu bash shell, run "export DISPLAY=:0" (or whatever you need
to point applications to the correct X server).
9. In the Ubuntu bash shell, run "gnucash".

Windows files are accessible in the bash shell and presumably in GnuCash by
browsing /mnt. I strongly recommend against opening your production GnuCash
file in WSL/Ubuntu/gnucash; instead, copy your production file from (e.g.)
/mnt/c/Users/Username/Documents/file.gnucash to /home/username using the
bash shell and work with the copy instead.

To repeat, I advise caution with this, in particular because X applications
are not supported in LSW. But it does show great promise, I think.

Edward

-- 
Edward Doolittle
Associate Professor of Mathematics
First Nations University of Canada
1 First Nations Way, Regina SK S4S 7K2

« Toutes les fois que je donne une place vacante, je fais cent mécontents
et un ingrat. »
-- Louis XIV, dans Voltaire, Le Siècle de Louis XIV, Chap. XXVI