From 82288ea3ebea366b47e3c21b7355493f43e1bdea Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: OrcaWin <293788423+OrcaWin@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:36:54 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(windows): drop a stale WSL availability failure once a
 distro list succeeds
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The distro-list and availability caches expire independently, and
getWslRepairReason checks availability first. So a definitive availability
failure (numeric exit status or ENOENT) held for 10-30min would keep reporting
`wsl-unavailable` even after `wsl --list --quiet` successfully returned a
distro — i.e. over a WSL that demonstrably just answered. That is the same
latch class this branch fixes, surviving in the gap between the two caches.

A non-empty distro list proves wsl.exe ran, so drop the negative availability
cache and let the next call re-probe. Scoped to non-empty lists only: those are
cached for the process lifetime, so this cannot re-spawn the blocking 5s probe
more than once. An empty list keeps its failure cache, since it re-probes on a
15s-to-5min schedule and would otherwise pay the blocking probe far too often.
---
 src/main/wsl.test.ts | 53 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/main/wsl.ts      | 14 ++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 67 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/main/wsl.test.ts b/src/main/wsl.test.ts
index 855f7212219..b37a4e1e0ae 100644
--- a/src/main/wsl.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/wsl.test.ts
@@ -532,6 +532,59 @@ describe('WSL availability cache', () => {
     }
   })
 
+  // Why: the caches expire independently and `getWslRepairReason` checks availability
+  // first, so a definitive failure held for 10min would report `wsl-unavailable` over a
+  // WSL that just listed a distro. Finding a distro must drop the stale failure.
+  it.each([
+    ['a definitive failure', { status: 1 }],
+    ['a timeout', { code: 'ETIMEDOUT', status: null, signal: 'SIGTERM' }]
+  ])('re-probes availability once a distro list succeeds after %s', (_label, errorShape) => {
+    vi.useFakeTimers()
+    execFileSyncMock.mockImplementationOnce(() => {
+      throw Object.assign(new Error('probe failed'), errorShape)
+    })
+
+    try {
+      withPlatform('win32', () => {
+        expect(isWslAvailable()).toBe(false)
+
+        // A distro turns up (WSL finished provisioning / was repaired mid-session).
+        execFileSyncMock.mockReturnValueOnce('Ubuntu\n')
+        expect(listWslDistros()).toEqual(['Ubuntu'])
+
+        // Without dropping the stale failure this would stay false for 10min.
+        execFileSyncMock.mockReturnValueOnce('')
+        expect(isWslAvailable()).toBe(true)
+      })
+    } finally {
+      vi.useRealTimers()
+    }
+  })
+
+  // Why: an empty list re-probes on a 15s-to-5min schedule, so clearing the availability
+  // failure on every empty probe would re-spawn the blocking 5s probe far too often.
+  it('does not drop an availability failure for an empty distro list', () => {
+    vi.useFakeTimers()
+    execFileSyncMock.mockImplementationOnce(() => {
+      throw Object.assign(new Error('probe failed'), { status: 1 })
+    })
+
+    try {
+      withPlatform('win32', () => {
+        expect(isWslAvailable()).toBe(false)
+        execFileSyncMock.mockReturnValueOnce('')
+        expect(listWslDistros()).toEqual([])
+        expect(getCachedWslAvailability()).toBe(false)
+        // Still inside the definitive window, so no re-probe was paid.
+        expect(execFileSyncMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
+        expect(isWslAvailable()).toBe(false)
+        expect(execFileSyncMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
+      })
+    } finally {
+      vi.useRealTimers()
+    }
+  })
+
   it('keeps reporting unavailable off Windows without probing', () => {
     withPlatform('darwin', () => {
       expect(isWslAvailable()).toBe(false)
diff --git a/src/main/wsl.ts b/src/main/wsl.ts
index 54b259cc4ea..2d2bbcb9fd5 100644
--- a/src/main/wsl.ts
+++ b/src/main/wsl.ts
@@ -137,6 +137,9 @@ function cacheWslDistroList(rawDistros: string[]): string[] {
   if (userDistros.length === 0 && wslDistroCache !== null && wslDistroCache.length > 0) {
     return wslDistroCache
   }
+  if (userDistros.length > 0) {
+    dropStaleWslAvailabilityFailure()
+  }
   wslDistroCache = userDistros
   if (wslDistroCache.length === 0) {
     const now = Date.now()
@@ -324,6 +327,17 @@ function isRetryableWslProbeFailure(error: unknown): boolean {
   return failure?.code !== 'ENOENT'
 }
 
+// Why: the two caches expire independently, and `getWslRepairReason` checks availability
+// first — so a definitive failure held for 10-30min would report `wsl-unavailable` over a
+// WSL that just listed a distro for us. A non-empty list proves wsl.exe ran, so drop the
+// stale failure and let the next call re-probe. Non-empty lists are cached for the process
+// lifetime, so this cannot re-spawn the blocking probe more than once.
+function dropStaleWslAvailabilityFailure(): void {
+  if (wslAvailableCache && !wslAvailableCache.available && !('unsupported' in wslAvailableCache)) {
+    wslAvailableCache = null
+  }
+}
+
 function isWslAvailabilityCacheFresh(cache: WslAvailabilityCache): boolean {
   if (isPermanentWslAvailabilityCache(cache)) {
     return true