GitHub Desktop is a user-friendly desktop application that allows you to interact with your GitHub repositories. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a compatibility layer for running Linux binary executables on Windows.
It is possible to use GitHub Desktop with WSL, but there are a few things you will need to keep in mind:
- You will need to install GitHub Desktop on Windows, not in the WSL environment.
- When you open GitHub Desktop, it will automatically set the Git executable to the one included with the application. If you want to use the Git executable in the WSL environment, you will need to change the path to the Git executable in the GitHub Desktop settings.
- When working with a WSL environment, you may need to configure the file permissions for your Git repositories so that both Windows and WSL can access them.
- If you are using a different terminal than the default one that comes with Windows, such as the Windows Terminal, you will need to make sure that the terminal is configured to use the WSL environment.
- If you encounter issues with file permissions or the Git executable, you can try running GitHub Desktop as an administrator.
It’s important to note that while it is possible to use GitHub Desktop with WSL, it may require some additional setup and configuration. Additionally, you may encounter some compatibility issues or performance degradation.