Avisek Das avisek

WSL: stop `/tmp` being wiped on every reboot

Symptom

Files in /tmp vanish every time WSL restarts. Started after moving to Windows 24H2 / newer WSL + Ubuntu 24.04.

Cause

Not WSL. It's systemd, which newer WSL/Ubuntu enable by default (systemd=true in /etc/wsl.conf). Older setups used WSL's own init, no systemd, so nothing touched /tmp.

WSL backup and restore guide

Your whole WSL distro is one file: ext4.vhdx. Copy that file, and you have everything. Home dir, installed packages, configs, all of it.

Where the vhdx lives

Store-installed distros:

C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Packages\\LocalState\ext4.vhdx

Setup Claude Code on Windows (WSL)

Add Ubuntu

Install Ubuntu from the Microsoft Store or via WSL.

Add CURL and More

sudo apt install curl wget unzip zip build-essential

Nix Flakes Tips and Tricks

This is by no means complete, please add to it and share your own!

1. Shallow Clone nixpkgs

Shallow clone nixpkgs when the full Git history isn't always necessary - this can speed up build times.

The only issue I've had is nix-index-database not working well with the shallow clone. Other than that, no issues after running for a few months.

Fix TypeScript Type Truncation

Fixes TypeScript editors truncating types with "... N more" by increasing defaultMaximumTruncationLength from 160 to 16000 and defaultHoverMaximumTruncationLength from 500 to 50000.

macOS

Cursor:

sed -i '' -e 's/var defaultMaximumTruncationLength = 160;/var defaultMaximumTruncationLength = 16000;/' -e 's/var defaultHoverMaximumTruncationLength = 500;/var defaultHoverMaximumTruncationLength = 50000;/' '/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/node_modules/typescript/lib/typescript.js'

	git config --global user.name "Avisek Das"
	git config --global user.email "avisekdas555@gmail.com"
	git config --global core.autocrlf false
	git config --global core.fileMode false

	@echo off
	setlocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion

	REM ================================================================
	REM Force Details View / General Items Template - System-Wide
	REM ================================================================
	REM Disables Windows folder type discovery and forces every folder
	REM (including MTP devices and network locations) to use the
	REM General Items template in Details view.
	REM

	{pkgs, ...}: {
	nixpkgs.overlays = [
	(final: prev: {
	macos-audio-devices = prev.writeShellScriptBin "macos-audio-devices" ''
	export PATH="${prev.nodejs}/bin:${prev.pnpm}/bin:$PATH"
	exec ${prev.pnpm}/bin/pnpx macos-audio-devices "$@"
	'';
	})
	];

	function copyRecursively(sourceDir: string, destinationDir: string): void {
	const files = fs.readdirSync(sourceDir)

	if (!fs.existsSync(destinationDir))
	fs.mkdirSync(destinationDir, { recursive: true })

	files.forEach(file => {
	const sourceFile = path.join(sourceDir, file)
	const destinationFile = path.join(destinationDir, file)

	function constrain(value, min, max) {
	return Math.min(Math.max(value, min), max)
	}