WSL2 should have a command to show/move where distros are stored on the filesystem
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
- 33.7k
- Forks
- 1.8k
- Avg merge
- 3d 17h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 116
Description
**Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.**
Problem: No way to easily figure out where WSL2 distros are stored, and no easy way to change their location.
Futhermore, there's no easy way to see WSL2 distro information/metadata.
`wsl --list --verbose` has no filesystem info.
Moving a distro's data is often encountered when installing Docker Desktop for Windows.
i.e. we want to move the `ext4.vhdx` to another drive with more space than `C:/`.
**Describe the solution you'd like**
Introduce two commands/options:
```bash
wsl --info # produces all metadata regarding a certain distro, i.e. where it is stored on disk, size, etc.
wsl --move # e.g. wsl --move docker-desktop-data D:/docker-desktop-data
```
**Describe alternatives you've considered**
Alternative:
`--info`: Googling it every time.
`--move`: Googling how to do this every time, exporting and importing the disk data with `wsl --export` and `wsl --import`.
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by reading the existing command paths for `wsl --list --verbose`, `wsl --export`, and `wsl --import`. Determine how distro metadata and data locations are currently exposed, then define and test the behavior for `wsl --info ` and `wsl --move `. Done means both commands provide the requested information and move distro data as described.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- cli, operating-systems
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100