Talk:Windows Subsystem for Linux

Microsoft: Windows Stub‑class Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Microsoft, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles relating to Microsoft on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MicrosoftWikipedia:WikiProject MicrosoftTemplate:WikiProject MicrosoftMicrosoft
Stub	This article has been rated as Stub-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject Microsoft Windows (assessed as Low-importance).

GNU vs Ubuntu

Why is there "Ubuntu binaries" and "Ubuntu user-mode", not "GNU user-mode"? Ubuntu is just a distribution. GNU is the userland and tools. 94.254.177.22 (talk) 15:07, 15 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Because they're running binaries direct from the Ubuntu distribution, not source code compiled to run on Windows Subsystem for Linux. The GNU project don't, as far as I know, distribute binaries, they just distribute source.

Furthermore, not all the programs in Ubuntu's userland come from the GNU project, so the userland is more than just GNU. Guy Harris (talk) 19:22, 15 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The irony of this "No it's GNU."/"No it's Ubuntu." argument is that neither is correct. Yesterday, Seth Jennings, a Senior Software Engineer at Red Hat, demonstrated Fedora binaries, taken from a Docker image, running on the subsystem. If there's a name for what binaries run here, it is Linux binaries, i.e. binaries that make Linux system calls to (what they expect to be) a Linux kernel. This is the name used by FreeBSD writers and Solaris/Illumos writers. It's also the name used in the Wikipedia lxrun article.

Jennings, Seth (2016-04-17). "RUNNING FEDORA ON WINDOWS 10 USING WSL". Obfuscation's End.
Handy, Brian N.; Murphey, Rich; Mock, Jim (2016-01-28). "Linux® Binary Compatibility". FreeBSD Handbook. The FreeBSD Documentation Project. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
James, Mike (2016-03-31). "Run Linux Binaries On Windows 10". I Programmer.

Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 20:37, 18 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

There's "what binaries can WSL run?" and there's "what binaries does Microsoft ship?" The answer to the former is probably "Linux binaries"; the answer to the latter is "Ubuntu binaries". Guy Harris (talk) 20:56, 18 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

An introduction that explains why this is useful might be nice.

I.e., what was the business model? Who is the user? Why would this be their preferred solution? Without that, this seems like a strange hybrid of two divergent worlds. MrRedwood (talk) 22:24, 15 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]