Windows, WSL, Inform 7 and Zarf's regtest.py

After discussing testing with @Lancelot I said “Oh, the problem with Oracle Virtual Machine is that it’s slow to get started. I’ve been using it for years and I guess it works, though.”

Which led me to thinking … is there something better out there?

Indeed there is. WSL for Windows 10 worked great.

Tests run a lot faster on it and it’s easier to set up esxpecially if I need to move to a new computer. It obviously doesn’t imitate the full Ubuntu functionality, but I don’t need the graphics, just a dump of the text to make sure it works.

So anyone who uses Zarf’s regtest and windows, I really recommend this. I’d be happy to write up more how-tos and getting started. I admit I still need a batch file to copy over the stuff I make on Windows, but it was such a big jump for me. One of the big pains of getting started testing is, fixing a typo and verifying it works takes too long, and it won’t any more.

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I have never tried WSL – I only use Windows for Steam games and beta-testing shippable versions of Lectrote etc. However, many people have told me that it’s solid.

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I use WSL as well for some projects, eg. for PunyInform. Works great, and I really like the seamless integration into VS Code.

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