Talk:Windows Subsystem for Linux

Microsoft: Windows Stub‑class Low‑importance

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Linux Stub‑class Mid‑importance

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Computing: Software Stub‑class Low‑importance

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Alternative root systems (userlands) for WSL

It might be worth adding a few examples of third party projects that exchange the ubuntu root file system for other popular linux distributions. A notable example is ALWSL, which brings a custom archlinux userland. The project page is here. References are mostly news/blogs. Examples: HackerNews, IDG's Inforworld, Techworm. There's also loose list of other developers with their own distros (such as Fedora) that can be found in the BoW github issues. Alphaneuron (talk) 14:18, 30 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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]

What it *probably* runs are "ELF 64-bit LSB executables". You folks need to read your Tannenbaum.

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]

I have added this: Microsoft envisages WSL as "primarily a tool for developers -- especially web developers and those who work on or with open source projects." -Lopifalko (talk) 15:57, 4 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Informative [on Project Astoria]

"[Microsoft] confirmed that Astoria was dead, as it rather undermined the Universal Windows Platform concept."[1] and [http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/11/divisive-android-app-support-for-windows-mobile-dropped-maybe-even-discarded/ older link. comp.arch (talk) 09:54, 12 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]