Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

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Ancient
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Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

Post by Ancient »

The above command will start to set up Linux to run on Windows 10. Windows server 2019 will also support Linux. Note GUI's are currently not supported, but a lot of stuff is. NTFS is still the file system, but it appears as a Linux drive to users. Variants of Linux supported from the Microsoft store are Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, SLES, Kali Linux, Debian GNU/Linux. So it's enable Linux via command line, then pick your Linux distribution.

None of this requires a virtual machine, all distributions work with X86 OR ARM native.

See - Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
also see - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about
Windows server 2019 support (and comparison of native Linux with Windows Linux on a 64 core 128 thread AMD device are discussed) here - https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... -bsd&num=1

It appears Windows is not only moving to dislodge itself from X86 by branching out to ARM, but is also seeking to adapt to Linux. How similar Linux under Windows is to WINE under Linux isn't clear to me. However at a high level of abstraction they appear very similar but of course reversed one using a Windows base the other using a Linux base.

The ability to run Linux binaries on Windows 10 and Windows server 2019 seems significant. That several variants are supported also seems different. My guess is Microsoft has to open source some of this to be license compliant.

These changes to Windows indicate it is moving to embrace POSIX generally. Embracing ARM is also a significant change, it may break the Windows / Intel near monopoly on hardware. Is Microsoft adapting due to increased demand for Linux? Over the past few years, Microsoft seems determined to expand it's reach into alternate software and hardware while preserving a Windows rubric controlling it all. The rate of expansion seems to be accelerating. If some of this is open source it's good, but if it's only available from the Microsoft store, can it really be open source?
justincase
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Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:13 pm

Re: Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

Post by justincase »

Just a couple of interesting anecdotes.
"Bash on Windows" as they called it during the original announcement, a.k.a. WSL or Windows Subsystem for Linux, would more accurately be called a Linux Subsystem for Windows (as it's a subsystem for Windows that runs Linux software), but technically isn't Linux at all, as WSL acts as if it were the Kernel, and the parts of the Linux distributions that they let you install on it aren't Linux (Linux is just the Kernel), so the Linux kernel itself isn't used, and they (at least claim to) have written the whole thing from scratch (similar to what ReactOS is doing) so as not to have to open-source everything (as there could be an argument that using GPL code in Windows requires them to apply the GPL to more than they would want to, or perhaps even all, of Windows).

Also, WSL has improved the ease of use, and compatibility of Linux software on Windows, but Microsoft has actually had POSIX subsystems available for installation on Windows as long as Windows NT has been available.

I'd also like to point out that if ReactOS ever wants to include a WSL-like subsystem, since we're (obviously) not afraid of the GPL, some (though probably not as much as we'd like) of the Linux source may be directly usable instead of having to re-reinvent the wheel, like MS is having to do.
Last edited by justincase on Wed Dec 26, 2018 10:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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hbelusca
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Re: Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

Post by hbelusca »

justincase wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:39 pm Also, WSL has improved the ease of use, and compatibility of Linux software on Windows, but Microsoft has actually had POSIX subsystems available for installation on Windows as long as Windows NT has been available.
Correct, although this Unix Subsystem (POSIXSS ; Interix...) required program writers to "port" / recompile their code into the PE format that was nonetheless needed for these applications.
justincase
Posts: 441
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:13 pm

Re: Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

Post by justincase »

hbelusca wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:53 pmCorrect, although this Unix Subsystem (POSIXSS ; Interix...) required program writers to "port" / recompile their code into the PE format that was nonetheless needed for these applications.
Ah, so they were more akin to cygwin than to wine or wsl.
I reserve the right to ignore any portion of any post if I deem it not constructive or likely to cause the discussion to degenerate.
hbelusca
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Re: Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

Post by hbelusca »

Indeed.
erkinalp
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Location: Izmir, TR

Re: Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

Post by erkinalp »

Second incarnation of WSL is going to be based on full kernel virtualisation:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandl ... ing-wsl-2/
-uses Ubuntu+GNOME 3 GNU/Linux
-likes Free (as in freedom) and Open Source Detergents
-favors open source of Windows 10 under GPL2
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