Linux Subsystem for Windows: GnuCash seems to work

[Adonay Felipe Nogueira]

For those curious, the true name is "GNU/kWindows" (per [1]).

Unfortunatelly, "Linux Subsystem for Windows" --- although used by
Microsoft --- doesn't reflect the name of th true component it tries to
provide.

[1] <https://mikegerwitz.com/2016/04/GNU-kWindows.html>.

2017-12-03T22:26:26-0600 Edward Doolittle wrote:
> 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

-- 
- https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno
- Palestrante e consultor sobre /software/ livre (não confundir com
  gratis).
- "WhatsApp"? Ele não é livre. Por favor, veja formas de se comunicar
  instantaneamente comigo no endereço abaixo.
- Contato: https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno#vCard
- Arquivos comuns aceitos (apenas sem DRM): Corel Draw, Microsoft
  Office, MP3, MP4, WMA, WMV.
- Arquivos comuns aceitos e enviados: CSV, GNU Dia, GNU Emacs Org, GNU
  GIMP, Inkscape SVG, JPG, LibreOffice (padrão ODF), OGG, OPUS, PDF
  (apenas sem DRM), PNG, TXT, WEBM.