I'm trying to run the "screen" utility on Windows Subsystem for Linux on Windows 10 (Version 1703, OS Build 15063.483).
It seems that I need additional permissions to run it (it works if I "sudo" it), but I don't understand why that is necessary.
What is the recommended way to set this up?
Is there some reason why this isn't the default set up?
$ screen
Cannot make directory '/var/run/screen': Permission denied
EDIT: after installing Ubuntu 20.04 the problem went away (*).
As Krease pointed out, the best solution is the one described in this SuperUser post.
Add the following to your .bashrc:
export SCREENDIR=$HOME/.screen
[ -d $SCREENDIR ] || mkdir -p -m 700 $SCREENDIR
See also issue 1245 on github.
--
(*) now this warning comes up, but seems harmless:
sleep: cannot read realtime clock: Invalid argument
sudo screen # which creates dir /var/run/screen
chmod 777 /var/screen # so that non-root users can create their own screen dir in this dir.