Indeed. I’m really annoyed when Linux tools make life hard for no reason whatsoever.
For example, why do I need to use a custom syntax (i.e. custom language) for configuring NGINX? It’s simply insane & has become stupid.
Try configuring bind.
DNS is a whole universe of its own.
I dont think JSON would help there
But yes , I agree, a common format for config files makes sense
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Of course, JSON would help, because it has a way of showing any data in a standardised way.
If I write a program for parsing JSON, it could basically handle any configuration.
However, whenever I’m confronted with Linux CLI tools, I usually don’t even try to parse anything, because it would simply be a waste of time, trying to parse all the different formats Linux CLI tools invent to annoy the user.
One major reason I did not create a GRUB configuration fix, is because the GRUB configuration files’ syntax is horrendously stupid. It’s almost like writing a shell script, but worse, because it actually isn’t a simple shell script.
Yes, but in cases like bind or grub, its a small part of the problem. You a tually have to know something as well as being able to read the config file.
With the original WSL you couldn’t run a GUI / X11 app. With WSL2 I am told you can, although I’m sure there are limitations and I have not tried.
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If you go to the Windows Store they have several distros available. The first and default one is Ubuntu. Pretty sure I’ve seen Fedora and Kali and maybe Gentoo. Some distros may not be produced by Microsoft and may not be well supported.
The Ubuntu distro was produced in cooperation with Canonical.
Not sure about the encryption.
I wanted to mention it works the other way around too. You have access to the Windows file system from the WSL shell. Something like /mnt/c for the C: drive.
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I’ve barely used Microsoft Terminal for Windows, but the reviews say it’s good stuff. I never had an issue with the original command prompt, but that’s just because I started there and know it very well.
Many of the complaints about the command prompt are from someone that doesn’t know something can be done, just differently than they are used to. Also, many complain about it not including simple utilities like grep or sed. Those are not part of any terminal emulator either. They are separate applications commonly installed by default. They are not part of the terminal emulator itself. There are versions of many of those utilities available for Windows command prompt too. Just saying.
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Thanks @pdecker for the info on WSL.
I got WSL installed under Win 11 and also installed Ubuntu from the play store. I even ran the updates for Ubuntu. I watched a couple utubes and did some searching, but still a bit confused.
The only thing I see is the command line. No menu or should I say no desktop environment (DE).
Am I missing something?
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No, why? Everything is perfectly clear.
Maybe we weren’t clear. It’s a command line interface only. Mainly intended for developers or Linux server support.
With WSL2 I am told you can launch a GUI app, but I haven’t done that.
It needs to be integrated with the Windows GUI.
There is no reason in principle why a linux process could not open an X11 Window under the Windows window manager. WSL2 may already do that from what you say.
Getting other linux dte stuff like icons and menus might be difficult.I think you would have to do it in a window rather than on the windows background.
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Yes, you are right. 
A perfect command line.
But I am not a Linux / PC wiz. I perform 99% of my PC usage thru a GUI.
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You did pretty impressive things in the past years.
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Yes, I was expecting to see an install Ubuntu with all menus that come with it. I suppose if Linux was install in a VM under Windows it would be like running stand alone on a PC, but be a lot more slower and a lot more restricted as what it could do.
Yes, I believe so. Not seeing a menu, I install Nemo file manager which comes with Linux Mint.
It seems to work file.
Again, thanks for your help.
Thanks @Akito, but that was with a lot of hand holding from some very experience LInux people right here on this forum.
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