How good (or bad) is WSL?(Windows Subsystem for Linux)


So Microsoft has added a reverse-wine to windows ? Ok so if you have fiddled around with linux you probably have heard of wine. Wine is basically a compatibility layer consisting dynamic link libraries(dlls) that make Microsoft Windows work. It has no code that is taken out of the Microsoft's NT kernel. Likewise, WSL or Windows Subsystem for Linux contains no code from the linux kernel (But WSL2 has a straight up kernal, more on that later).Basically it translates linux system calls into Windows NT system calls and that makes software that's intended to run on gnu-linux , run on windows.The app thinks it is running in a real linux environment.

What can it do? Well it can run anything that doesn't require a display server or a audio server like pulseaudio. However you can install an x server like vcxsrv and install xfce or something and you'll have a gui and there are some workarounds to get audio running , but that is not the point of this feature at all. This basically provides a bash shell for windows. In my perspective it is a small-footprint gnu-linux environment that can test small projects and get small things done without booting a full blown linux VM or switching to a gnu-linux distro altogether.

When WSL2 arrives , it is said to have an in house written linux kernel and the whole thing runs on a lightweight VM. It will be delivered with Windows 10 2004 update. Hopefully it won't eat away too much resources as the current system has no major toll on the system at all when doings light tasks. But a full linux distro in a VM eats a lot of ram while performing the same light tasks.

This however is not a reason to switch to windows if you're on linux for development purposes of course. This feature is more focused on people who live with windows but wants a linux environment to get little things done from time to time. Sources


[ZD Net]Microsoft: WSL2's Linux kernel will be delivered to Windows 10 users via Windows Update [HowToGeek] How to Install and Use the Linux Bash Shell on Windows 10

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