Installing Racket (Scheme) in WSL

We’ll install Racket from apt as follows, as the snap version ended up with many hassles

Note to self — don’t install Racket from the Snap Store!

**sudo apt update
sudo apt install racket**

Then:

❯ racket --version
Welcome to Racket v8.2 [cs].

We’re going to use VSCode (obviously) so we’ll install the Magic Racket extension (which is the best of the various extensions). Follow the instructions provided by the extension:

NB, this is, specifically:

raco pkg install racket-langserver

Respond “y” when prompted to install dependencies …

❯ raco pkg install racket-langserver
Resolving "racket-langserver" via https://download.racket-lang.org/releases/8.2/catalog/
Resolving "racket-langserver" via https://pkgs.racket-lang.org
Downloading repository https://github.com/jeapostrophe/racket-langserver.git
The following uninstalled packages are listed as dependencies of racket-langserver:
   html-parsing
   chk-lib
Would you like to install these dependencies? [Y/n/a/c/?] y
00: Resolving "html-parsing" via https://download.racket-lang.org/releases/8.2/catalog/
00: Resolving "html-parsing" via https://pkgs.racket-lang.org
Resolving "chk-lib" via https://download.racket-lang.org/releases/8.2/catalog/
Resolving "chk-lib" via https://pkgs.racket-lang.org
Downloading https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/html-parsing.zip
Downloading repository git://github.com/jeapostrophe/chk?path=chk-lib
The following uninstalled packages are listed as dependencies of html-parsing:
   mcfly
   overeasy
Would you like to install these dependencies? [Y/n/a/c/?] y
00: Resolving "mcfly" via https://download.racket-lang.org/releases/8.2/catalog/
00: Resolving "mcfly" via https://pkgs.racket-lang.org
Resolving "overeasy" via https://download.racket-lang.org/releases/8.2/catalog/
Resolving "overeasy" via https://pkgs.racket-lang.org
Downloading https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/mcfly.zip
Downloading https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/overeasy.zip
The following uninstalled packages were listed as dependencies
and they were installed:
 dependencies of racket-langserver:
   html-parsing
   chk-lib
 dependencies of html-parsing:
   mcfly
   overeasy
raco setup: version: 8.2
raco setup: platform: x86_64-linux [cs]
raco setup: target machine: ta6le
raco setup: installation name: 8.2
raco setup: variants: cs
raco setup: main collects: /usr/share/racket/collects/
raco setup: collects paths:
raco setup:   /home/captivus/.local/share/racket/8.2/collects
raco setup:   /usr/share/racket/collects/
raco setup: main pkgs: /usr/share/racket/pkgs
raco setup: pkgs paths:
raco setup:   /usr/share/racket/pkgs
raco setup:   /home/captivus/.local/share/racket/8.2/pkgs
raco setup: links files:
raco setup:   /usr/share/racket/links.rktd
raco setup:   /home/captivus/.local/share/racket/8.2/links.rktd
raco setup: compiled-file roots:
raco setup:   same
raco setup:   /usr/lib/racket/compiled
raco setup: main docs: /usr/share/doc/racket
raco setup: --- updating info-domain tables ---                    [20:14:51]
raco setup: updating: /home/captivus/.local/share/racket/8.2/share/info-cache.rktd
raco setup: --- pre-installing collections ---                     [20:14:51]
raco setup: --- installing foreign libraries ---                   [20:14:51]
raco setup: --- installing shared files ---                        [20:14:51]
raco setup: --- compiling collections ---                          [20:14:51]
raco setup: --- parallel build using 8 jobs ---                    [20:14:51]
raco setup: 7 making: <pkgs>/chk-lib/chk
raco setup: 6 making: <pkgs>/html-parsing (html-parsing)
raco setup: 5 making: <pkgs>/mcfly (McFly Runtime)
raco setup: 4 making: <pkgs>/overeasy (Overeasy)
raco setup: 3 making: <pkgs>/racket-langserver
raco setup: 3 making: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/scribblings
raco setup: 3 making: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/tests
raco setup: 3 making: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/tests/lifecycle
raco setup: 3 making: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/tests/sync
raco setup: 3 making: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/tests/textDocument
raco setup: 3 making: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/tests/textDocument/code-action
raco setup: 3 making: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/tests/textDocument/completion
raco setup: 3 making: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/tests/textDocument/find-symbol
raco setup: 3 making: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/tests/textDocument/rename
raco setup: --- creating launchers ---                             [20:14:56]
raco setup: --- installing man pages ---                           [20:14:56]
raco setup: --- building documentation ---                         [20:14:56]
raco setup: 7 running: <pkgs>/html-parsing/html-parsing.scrbl
raco setup: 5 running: <pkgs>/racket-index/scribblings/main/user/local-redirect.scrbl
raco setup: 1 running: <pkgs>/mcfly/mcfly.scrbl
raco setup: 6 running: <pkgs>/overeasy/overeasy.scrbl
raco setup: 3 running: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/scribblings/racket-langserver.scrbl
raco setup: 2 running: <pkgs>/racket-index/scribblings/main/user/release.scrbl
raco setup: 0 running: <pkgs>/racket-index/scribblings/main/user/search.scrbl
raco setup: 4 running: <pkgs>/racket-index/scribblings/main/user/start.scrbl
raco setup: 7 rendering: <pkgs>/html-parsing/html-parsing.scrbl
raco setup: 6 rendering: <pkgs>/racket-index/scribblings/main/user/local-redirect.scrbl
raco setup: 5 rendering: <pkgs>/mcfly/mcfly.scrbl
raco setup: 4 rendering: <pkgs>/overeasy/overeasy.scrbl
raco setup: 3 rendering: <pkgs>/racket-langserver/scribblings/racket-langserver.scrbl
raco setup: 2 rendering: <pkgs>/racket-index/scribblings/main/user/release.scrbl
raco setup: 1 rendering: <pkgs>/racket-index/scribblings/main/user/search.scrbl
raco setup: 0 rendering: <pkgs>/racket-index/scribblings/main/user/start.scrbl
raco setup: --- installing collections ---                         [20:15:02]
raco setup: --- post-installing collections ---                    [20:15:02]

Notes on running this in WSL

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What on earth are “Snaps”?

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This was working for me a while ago but today, when I tried, it was not.

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