PyCharm 2021.1 EAP 4: WSL 2 Support and Faster Indexing
This EAP build brings several nice additions to WSL 2 support, makes indexing faster, and introduces a GitHub pull request template.
As usual, please read the blog post, try out the new features, and let us know if you encounter any problems.
We encourage you to join the program to try out the new and improved features. By testing these updates and giving us feedback, you can help us make PyCharm better for you. As always, you can download the new EAP from our website, get it from the free Toolbox App, or update using snap if you’re an Ubuntu user.
Important! PyCharm EAP builds are not fully tested and might be unstable.
WSL 2 support
The best news is that from now on, you can work in PyCharm with your project stored on the WSL filesystem, without copying the project to your Windows file system.
Also, PyCharm now detects the WSL interpreter. If no WSL interpreter is configured for your project, PyCharm will look for system interpreters and set them as the default interpreter automatically.
What’s more, you can open any directory in \\wsl$ with PyCharm. If PyCharm detects any Python file in the directory, it will suggest creating a WSL-based interpreter. See dedicated PyCharm Help page.
Once the project is open, PyCharm Terminal will already be configured to run on WSL. As for version control, you can use Git that is installed on your WSL instance.
As we mentioned in the previous EAP blog post, PyCharm now allows you to use custom Linux distributions run on WSL. PyCharm auto-detects such a distribution and adds it to the Linux Distribution list. You don’t need to add extra pre-configuring – starting with 2021.1, PyCharm will do everything for you.
Although debugging is fully supported for WSL 2, users still need to do a few manual steps to configure the debugger to work with WSL 2. Thanks to the feedback from the PyCharm community (PY-44230), we’ve created a set of simple instructions on how to enable debugging for WSL configurations.
Faster indexing
Our new prebuilt indexes for the most popular Python interpreters have made the standard library indexing much faster. The new approach to prebuilt indexes also helped us make the PyCharm installation file smaller.
VCS
Support for a Git commit template
PyCharm now has a Git commit template, which you can use to create custom commit messages depending on your needs. If you define a commit template, the IDE will display the text from it as an initial commit message.
UX and UI updates in HTTP Client
When you run a request from the HTTP client, the IDE opens the Services tool window. It is now possible to collapse the returned HTML, JSON, or XML by clicking on the minus icon next to it.
The right vertical pane has been given a new look. Response view settings are now grouped under the ‘eye’ icon. When you click on it, you can choose to show line numbers and the format for viewing the response. What’s more, it is easy to scroll to the top and to the bottom of the response by clicking the respective icons.
The last new icon, ‘Copy Response Body To Clipboard’, allows you to copy the response body without all the additional info that the full response contains.
You can find the rest of the changes for this EAP build in the release notes.
Ready to join the EAP?
Some ground rules
- EAP builds are free to use and expire 30 days after the build date.
- You can install an EAP build side by side with your stable PyCharm version.
- These builds are not fully tested and can be unstable.
- Your feedback is always welcome. Please use our issue tracker and make sure to mention your build version
How to download
Download this EAP from our website. Alternatively, you can use the JetBrains Toolbox App to stay up to date throughout the entire EAP. If you’re on Ubuntu 16.04 or later, you can use snap to get PyCharm EAP and stay up to date.
The PyCharm team
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