What causes "DefaultDistro not implemented on this system" in wavetermdev/waveterm?

Gate calls behind runtime.GOOS == "windows"

DefaultDistro not implemented on this system

Error message

DefaultDistro not implemented on this system

What it means

Stub error: the WSL DefaultDistro accessor has no implementation on non-Windows (Unix) systems. The wsl-unix build provides the WSL API surface but these operations only exist on Windows, so calling DefaultDistro returns this not-implemented error.

Source

Thrown at pkg/wsl/wsl-unix.go:25

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"os"
	"os/exec"
)

type WslName struct {
	Distro string `json:"distro"`
}

func RegisteredDistros(ctx context.Context) (distros []Distro, err error) {
	return nil, fmt.Errorf("RegisteredDistros not implemented on this system")
}

func DefaultDistro(ctx context.Context) (d Distro, ok bool, err error) {
	return d, false, fmt.Errorf("DefaultDistro not implemented on this system")
}

type Distro struct{}

func (d *Distro) Name() string {
	return ""
}

func (d *Distro) WslCommand(ctx context.Context, cmd string) *WslCmd {
	return nil
}

// just use the regular cmd since it's
// similar enough to not cause issues
// type WslCmd = exec.Cmd
type WslCmd struct {
	exec.Cmd
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

Gate calls behind runtime.GOOS == "windows"
On Windows, ensure WSL is installed if you also hit the Windows variant of this failure
Skip WSL-dependent tests/features on non-Windows hosts

Example fix

// before
d, ok, err := wsl.DefaultDistro(ctx)
// after
if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
    return errors.New("WSL default distro requires Windows")
}
d, ok, err := wsl.DefaultDistro(ctx)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
    return errors.New("no default WSL distro on non-Windows hosts")
}

Try / catch

d, ok, err := wsl.DefaultDistro(ctx)
if err != nil || !ok {
    // non-Windows (or WSL absent): use local/SSH connection instead
}

Prevention

Check the platform before resolving a WSL default distro
On Windows also verify WSL is installed before relying on a default

When it happens

Trigger: Calling wsl.DefaultDistro (or the WslDefaultDistroCommand RPC) on a Linux or macOS build.

Common situations: Code or UI trying to resolve the default WSL distro to open a connection without checking the platform; automated tests run on Linux CI.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8023c0f8e9e43e5e. Report an issue: GitHub.