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

Only call GetDistroCmd on Windows builds (runtime.GOOS check)

GetDistroCmd not implemented on this system

Error message

GetDistroCmd not implemented on this system

What it means

Stub error: GetDistroCmd has no implementation on Unix systems. Only the Windows build can locate the wsl.exe command for a distro; on Unix the function returns this not-implemented error.

Source

Thrown at pkg/wsl/wsl-unix.go:74

func (wc *WslCmd) ExitSignal() string {
	return ""
}

func (c *WslCmd) SetStdin(stdin io.Reader) {
	c.Stdin = stdin
}

func (c *WslCmd) SetStdout(stdout io.Writer) {
	c.Stdout = stdout
}

func (c *WslCmd) SetStderr(stderr io.Writer) {
	c.Stderr = stderr
}

func GetDistroCmd(ctx context.Context, wslDistroName string, cmd string) (*WslCmd, error) {
	return nil, fmt.Errorf("GetDistroCmd not implemented on this system")
}

func GetDistro(ctx context.Context, wslDistroName WslName) (*Distro, error) {
	return nil, fmt.Errorf("GetDistro not implemented on this system")
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

Only call GetDistroCmd on Windows builds (runtime.GOOS check)
Use a regular local or SSH command runner on Unix systems
Hide/disable WSL block types in the UI on non-Windows platforms

Example fix

// before
cmd, err := wsl.GetDistroCmd(ctx, "Ubuntu", "ls")
// after
if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
    return nil, errors.New("wsl commands require Windows")
}
cmd, err := wsl.GetDistroCmd(ctx, "Ubuntu", "ls")

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
    return errors.New("GetDistroCmd requires a Windows host")
}

Try / catch

cmd, err := wsl.GetDistroCmd(ctx, distro, command)
if err != nil {
    cmd = exec.CommandContext(ctx, "sh", "-c", command) // Unix fallback
}

Prevention

Route WSL command execution through a Windows-only code path
Offer SSH/local exec as the cross-platform alternative

When it happens

Trigger: Calling wsl.GetDistroCmd with any distro name and command string on a Linux or macOS build.

Common situations: Attempting to spawn a shell/command inside a WSL distro from a Unix host; unguarded cross-platform block controllers invoking WSL.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fc0535141975b805. Report an issue: GitHub.