Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
A clear and concise description of what the problem is. Ex. I'm always frustrated when [...]
I appreciate that windows would like to make a new version of conhost to eventually become the default windows terminal to host powershell and bash.exe. however because there are still some issues (last time I checked) that prevent the new windows terminal from rendeing cli apps properly, this makes cli work difficult in wsl.
the solution most linux developers choose is to install a professionally done terminal emulator in linux, and then open that in wsl.
Describe the solution you'd like
A clear and concise description of what you want to happen.
what I would prefer is if the user installs wsl on a windows machine that has a gui, that by default it installs a professionally done linux terminal emmulator inside of windows subsystem for linux that can be opened via the start menu/windows button in the Microsoft Windows user interface.
an example of a very professionally done terminal emulator for linux is the xfce4-terminal package in debian. the problem with xfce4-terminal is that it has alot of dependencies, but there are other nearly identical terminals that have few dependencies.
Describe alternatives you've considered
A clear and concise description of any alternative solutions or features you've considered.
the alternative is for developers to sit and wait for microsoft to make their terminal emulator compatible with everything linux terminals already offer. this forces an extra step every time someone wants to set up windows subsystem for linux for linux development.
Additional context
Add any other context or screenshots about the feature request here.
one important thing for a terminal emulator to be built into microsoft windows is it must support powershell.
so if I open up powershell in conhost and type bash.exe and then hit return, that will open up windows subsystem for linux inside of powershell.
this is the first key point: if I type powershell.exe inside of linux it opens up powershell inside of linux inside of powershell. this process is infinitely repeatable.
then if I am in a debian wsl system, and I type sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade && sudo apt -y install xfce4-terminal then press enter then type my password then press enter, it is going to install xfce4-terminal
then if I type xfce4-terminal then press enter it will open xfce4-terminal in another window.
then I can navigate to that window and it will have a bash shell open in the same windows subsystem for linux system that spawned it.
this is the second key point: if I type powershell.exe inside of that xfce4-terminal I can then use Microsoft Windows powershell on my system as the user I was in the original powershell window that spawned everything.
in other words a terminal like xfce4 is suitable to replace conhost on windows, with some exceptions.
first of all certain powershell and cmd applications would need to be tested in the final chosen terminal to render properly.
second of all conhost and perhaps the new windows terminal for WSL need to stay in windows for a few years for forwards and backwards compatability aka legacy support.
adding this would allow you to outsource the development of Microsoft Windows terminal emulators to open source teams, thus allowing you to allocate the staff for that component of windows to other projects. otherwise one ideal might be to fork an existing terminal and make it into a microsoft product: and the key is that forking an existing windows terminal and making it an open source microsoft product saves microsoft the time and money currently being spent on the new windows subsystem for linux terminal.
thanks
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
A clear and concise description of what the problem is. Ex. I'm always frustrated when [...]
I appreciate that windows would like to make a new version of conhost to eventually become the default windows terminal to host powershell and bash.exe. however because there are still some issues (last time I checked) that prevent the new windows terminal from rendeing cli apps properly, this makes cli work difficult in wsl.
the solution most linux developers choose is to install a professionally done terminal emulator in linux, and then open that in wsl.
Describe the solution you'd like
A clear and concise description of what you want to happen.
what I would prefer is if the user installs wsl on a windows machine that has a gui, that by default it installs a professionally done linux terminal emmulator inside of windows subsystem for linux that can be opened via the start menu/windows button in the Microsoft Windows user interface.
an example of a very professionally done terminal emulator for linux is the xfce4-terminal package in debian. the problem with xfce4-terminal is that it has alot of dependencies, but there are other nearly identical terminals that have few dependencies.
Describe alternatives you've considered
A clear and concise description of any alternative solutions or features you've considered.
the alternative is for developers to sit and wait for microsoft to make their terminal emulator compatible with everything linux terminals already offer. this forces an extra step every time someone wants to set up windows subsystem for linux for linux development.
Additional context
Add any other context or screenshots about the feature request here.
one important thing for a terminal emulator to be built into microsoft windows is it must support powershell.
so if I open up powershell in conhost and type bash.exe and then hit return, that will open up windows subsystem for linux inside of powershell.
this is the first key point: if I type powershell.exe inside of linux it opens up powershell inside of linux inside of powershell. this process is infinitely repeatable.
then if I am in a debian wsl system, and I type sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade && sudo apt -y install xfce4-terminal then press enter then type my password then press enter, it is going to install xfce4-terminal
then if I type xfce4-terminal then press enter it will open xfce4-terminal in another window.
then I can navigate to that window and it will have a bash shell open in the same windows subsystem for linux system that spawned it.
this is the second key point: if I type powershell.exe inside of that xfce4-terminal I can then use Microsoft Windows powershell on my system as the user I was in the original powershell window that spawned everything.
in other words a terminal like xfce4 is suitable to replace conhost on windows, with some exceptions.
first of all certain powershell and cmd applications would need to be tested in the final chosen terminal to render properly.
second of all conhost and perhaps the new windows terminal for WSL need to stay in windows for a few years for forwards and backwards compatability aka legacy support.
adding this would allow you to outsource the development of Microsoft Windows terminal emulators to open source teams, thus allowing you to allocate the staff for that component of windows to other projects. otherwise one ideal might be to fork an existing terminal and make it into a microsoft product: and the key is that forking an existing windows terminal and making it an open source microsoft product saves microsoft the time and money currently being spent on the new windows subsystem for linux terminal.
thanks