Windows Git sees executable files in WSL 2 linux file system as non-executable

[JeromeDane]

Description

In WSL 2, when a Git repository is hosted within the Linux file system and contains executable files, these files are seen by Windows Git as non-executable.

Steps to reproduce

1. In bash run the following commands:

cd ~
mkdir wsl2-executable-files
cd wsl2-executable-files
git init
touch test-executable
chmod 755 test-executable
git add .
git commit -m "Create executable file"

2. Get the Windows path to this folder. This can be done by typing explorer.exe . in bash and getting the full path from the Windows Explorer window that opens. e.g: \\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<user>\wsl2-executable-files

3. In Windows PowerShell run the following commands:

cd \\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<user>\wsl2-executable-files
git status

Expected Result

The Windows version of Git should not detect any changes to the repository hosted in the Linux file system

PS Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<user>\wsl2-executable-files> git status
On branch master
nothing to commit, working tree clean

Actual Result (problem)

The Windows version of Git shows that test-executable has been modified:

PS Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<user>\wsl2-executable-files> git status
On branch master
Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)

        modified:   test-executable

PS Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<user>\wsl2-executable-files> git diff
diff --git a/test-executable b/test-executable
old mode 100755
new mode 100644

This also manifests in editors like Atom that have built-in support for Git. If a Windows version of Atom is opened to read the repository hosted in the Linux file system, it will also detect a change:

System Information

Windows Build Number

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.18941.1001]`

WSL Instance Information

C:\> wsl --list --verbose
  NAME      STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu    Running         2

Ubuntu information

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS
Release:        18.04
Codename:       bionic

Linux Git Version

$ git --version
git version 2.17.1

Windows Git Version

PS C:\> git --version
git version 2.22.0.windows.1

[therealkenc]

This is by-design Windows git.exe which does not grok Linux metadata. You'd see the same behavior if you did the same thing on a Real Linux box and Windows given identical circumstances. There are standard work-arounds for the impedance mismatch. Hail Mary ref #3865 maybe one day in a galaxy far far way.

[iugo]

You can try git config core.filemode false then restart the Git GUI.