4 ms·

finally I can remove the win32 specific code from all the open source software I maintain not sure that was what Microsoft was going for though...

geofft 9y ago
Depends on your software - it doesn't get you integration with other Win32 apps or features, notably the GUI, since it's a separate subsystem. If your app is a database server, probably yes. If your app is a monitoring agent, definitely no. (I'm curious if you've used it or you're just commenting based on the headline?)
- justabystander 9y ago
  > If your app is a database server, probably yes. They explicitly don't support that. From the article: > Linux distro's [sic] running atop WSL are for interactive user scenarios, NOT for running production workloads on Apache/nginx/MySQL/MongoDB/etc. And the last time I checked, it's not suitable for services. The moment I closed the bash terminal, all the processes I had running through WSL terminated - including nginx and tomcat.
  - geofft 9y ago
    Ah, thanks. I've only played around with interactively but that makes sense. It really seems like the primary use case is supporting Docker/OCI containers for local dev, so you can keep using a Windows desktop instead of switching to a Linux one.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
vvanders 9y ago
Unless you're going to force your users to install WSL up front(which is a pretty poor first contact) I think you might be better served by keeping it around.
- 43224gg252 9y ago
  Why? The Linux sub-system is the best part of Windows. He's doing them a favor.
  - untog 9y ago
    Extra dependencies are rarely ever doing anyone a favour. Yet another thing to keep up to date, occupy disk space, memory...
    - Spivak 9y ago
      That's a pretty flimsy case when it's bundled with the OS and the performance and memory cost is in their court to improve.
  - gtirloni 9y ago
    It seems to still be a feature hidden under Developer Mode thus not appropriate as a dependency for end users. Maybe OP is talking about tools installed on his/her own system only?
  - pvdebbe 9y ago
    WSL is not always available for corp Windows setups
- hossbeast 9y ago
  You are misunderstanding the point of WSL. It's not about writing software with Linux that users will run with Windows. Rather, it's about writing software on Windows that users will run on Linux. The target demographic is developers of Linux server software. A lot of those devs today run macOS
  - vvanders 9y ago
    Oh no, I get that. The OP was making the assertion that open source doesn't need win32 portability. That's a huge pain in the ass for those of us who work in things that are tied to win32(graphics, gamedev tools, etc) we happily contribute back but ripping out a working port just seems petty.
corysama 9y ago
My theory of what they are going for is to migrate server devs from Macbooks running BSD Terminal.app to cheaper Windows laptops running WSL terminals. Once you have migrated away from Mac, getting your server code to run on Windows natively becomes a lot easier and more attractive.
- nerflad 9y ago
  The question of why you would want to run your server code on Windows (aside from supporting legacy .NET apps) remains. Those same sysadmins can overwrite Windows with a BSD or Linux on those cheap laptops.
  - tsomctl 9y ago
    Because some of us prefer Windows to Linux on the desktop.
    - nerflad 9y ago
      My point was that I don't see the sense in the strategy laid out by grandparent, because I don't see a compelling reason to run Windows on servers (I say this as a former Windows sysadmin (as recently as this year, not 2005)).
      - Clubber 9y ago
        He said server devs, which I assume means people who develop stuff that runs on a (nix) server. corysama, I agree. Windows was really lacking in any type of native unix connectivity. No native ssh, sftp support is a big one. You can get free third party programs for that, but nothing beats opening a terminal and having all of it, especially if that's what you are accustomed to. I really love the new shell in Windows. I'm so glad they broke away from their old mindset.
shasheene 9y ago
For software intended for regular users, POSIX via WSL isn't a replacement to the Windows API. In addition to the feature needing to be manually installed, developer-mode must be enabled. WSL leaving beta does not appear to change that. If the feature was installed by default, and an X server was bundled, it would risk the Windows platform. WSL allows developers to be placated without affecting the business side of the platform.

geofft 9y ago

Depends on your software - it doesn't get you integration with other Win32 apps or features, notably the GUI, since it's a separate subsystem. If your app is a database server, probably yes. If your app is a monitoring agent, definitely no. (I'm curious if you've used it or you're just commenting based on the headline?)

justabystander 9y ago
> If your app is a database server, probably yes. They explicitly don't support that. From the article: > Linux distro's [sic] running atop WSL are for interactive user scenarios, NOT for running production workloads on Apache/nginx/MySQL/MongoDB/etc. And the last time I checked, it's not suitable for services. The moment I closed the bash terminal, all the processes I had running through WSL terminated - including nginx and tomcat.
- geofft 9y ago
  Ah, thanks. I've only played around with interactively but that makes sense. It really seems like the primary use case is supporting Docker/OCI containers for local dev, so you can keep using a Windows desktop instead of switching to a Linux one.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]

vvanders 9y ago

Unless you're going to force your users to install WSL up front(which is a pretty poor first contact) I think you might be better served by keeping it around.

43224gg252 9y ago
Why? The Linux sub-system is the best part of Windows. He's doing them a favor.
- untog 9y ago
  Extra dependencies are rarely ever doing anyone a favour. Yet another thing to keep up to date, occupy disk space, memory...
  - Spivak 9y ago
    That's a pretty flimsy case when it's bundled with the OS and the performance and memory cost is in their court to improve.
- gtirloni 9y ago
  It seems to still be a feature hidden under Developer Mode thus not appropriate as a dependency for end users. Maybe OP is talking about tools installed on his/her own system only?
- pvdebbe 9y ago
  WSL is not always available for corp Windows setups
hossbeast 9y ago
You are misunderstanding the point of WSL. It's not about writing software with Linux that users will run with Windows. Rather, it's about writing software on Windows that users will run on Linux. The target demographic is developers of Linux server software. A lot of those devs today run macOS
- vvanders 9y ago
  Oh no, I get that. The OP was making the assertion that open source doesn't need win32 portability. That's a huge pain in the ass for those of us who work in things that are tied to win32(graphics, gamedev tools, etc) we happily contribute back but ripping out a working port just seems petty.

corysama 9y ago

My theory of what they are going for is to migrate server devs from Macbooks running BSD Terminal.app to cheaper Windows laptops running WSL terminals. Once you have migrated away from Mac, getting your server code to run on Windows natively becomes a lot easier and more attractive.

nerflad 9y ago
The question of why you would want to run your server code on Windows (aside from supporting legacy .NET apps) remains. Those same sysadmins can overwrite Windows with a BSD or Linux on those cheap laptops.
- tsomctl 9y ago
  Because some of us prefer Windows to Linux on the desktop.
  - nerflad 9y ago
    My point was that I don't see the sense in the strategy laid out by grandparent, because I don't see a compelling reason to run Windows on servers (I say this as a former Windows sysadmin (as recently as this year, not 2005)).
    - Clubber 9y ago
      He said server devs, which I assume means people who develop stuff that runs on a (nix) server. corysama, I agree. Windows was really lacking in any type of native unix connectivity. No native ssh, sftp support is a big one. You can get free third party programs for that, but nothing beats opening a terminal and having all of it, especially if that's what you are accustomed to. I really love the new shell in Windows. I'm so glad they broke away from their old mindset.

shasheene 9y ago

For software intended for regular users, POSIX via WSL isn't a replacement to the Windows API. In addition to the feature needing to be manually installed, developer-mode must be enabled. WSL leaving beta does not appear to change that. If the feature was installed by default, and an X server was bundled, it would risk the Windows platform. WSL allows developers to be placated without affecting the business side of the platform.