6 ms·

Red Hat and Microsoft Bringing RHEL to WSL

63 points by mikece 2y ago

jmclnx 2y ago
So if I use RHEL on WSL, do I still have to pay Red Hat/IBM for a License ? Or is Microsoft including it in WSL. More curious the anything, me personally I would never use WSL.
- pkaye 2y ago
  I think it will be available on the Microsoft Store for install like the other Linux distributions available there. Not sure if they will charge for it but it probably will be promoted as a development server.
- mistrial9 2y ago
  you will be required to use it by your employer
- bilekas 2y ago
  My guess would be it would be under he same usesge license. For example if your company is already licenced for RHEL then this is just an added avenue of execution. Instead of maybe an extra dedicated REHL workspace or machine you could in theory delegate some of that to an already established Windows Server?
  - from-nibly 2y ago
    Why would you run wsl on a server?
    - bilekas 2y ago
      People do strange things! It’s not for me to judge!
      - mikece 2y ago
        This is more true that you would want to know, especially in Windows Server based shops...
    - pjmlp 2y ago
      It is officially supported as way for mixed loads, for example on IoT devices. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot-edge/iot-edge-for-linux-on-windows?view=iotedge-1.5 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot-edge/iot-edge-fo...
- dgfitz 2y ago
  I would guess you still need a RHEL account to register the VM. In a knock on no entity, this is an easy win for MSFT and RH. Nothing wrong with it.
- cpitman 2y ago
  If this is for your own use, Red Hat has long had free developer licenses for rhel. https://developers.redhat.com/products/rhel/overview https://developers.redhat.com/products/rhel/overview
bcye 2y ago
Original announcement: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/bringing-red-hat-enterprise-linux-windows-subsystem-linux https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/bringing-red-hat-enterprise-l...
linuxftw 2y ago
When IBM acquired Red Hat, it was supposed to super-charge Red Hat, IBM was going to let them grow. They had an opportunity to really make desktop linux a thing. Now, they're conceding defeat.
- jkaplowitz 2y ago
  This is no more a sign of defeat than Debian or Ubuntu supporting WSL, which they both do. (Including Ubuntu's paid offering Ubuntu Pro.)
- zokier 2y ago
  I'm sorry, but ever thinking that IBM acquisition of RH was going to help Linux desktop sounds incredibly naive take. Its not a defeat if they weren't even in the race.
- pessimizer 2y ago
  Why would IBM care about linux on the desktop? And why would anyone else care if that linux desktop had to be redhat? "IBM’s Red Hat Acquisition Will Pay For Itself By Early Next Year" https://www.nextplatform.com/2024/10/24/ibms-red-hat-acquisition-will-pay-for-itself-by-early-next-year/ https://www.nextplatform.com/2024/10/24/ibms-red-hat-acquisi...
- dismalaf 2y ago
  Conceding defeat? The use case for this is: corporation has RHEL servers but Windows workstations. Developer wants RHEL on their workstation to develop tools for said server. Support for server infrastructure is where RH and IBM make all their money anyway, why do they care if an individual dev is running RHEL proper or under WSL on workstations?
  - linuxftw 2y ago
    > The use case for this is: corporation has RHEL servers but Windows workstations. This is entirely the point I'm making. RH could have used IBM's backing to make desktop linux a 1st class experience. Instead, they're doing none of that, and conceding the desktop market to Windows and Mac.
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
[dupe] Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42183791 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42183791
loudmax 2y ago
That's nice, but it would be even nicer if Red Hat were contributing to Wine or Proton to get Windows applications running reliably on RHEL.
- satiated_grue 2y ago
  Is there much demand for that in the enterprise spaces where RHEL is used? Some applications, like ESRI, are already packaged by the vendor using Wine on RHEL.
toprerules 2y ago
Somehow they are adding RHEL, but not Fedora which what the majority of WSL users would want to use.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  Why would they? Fedora usership is significantly less than RHEL, and adding RHEL support to WSL helps the Windows Server use case
  - yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
    I would expect WSL to mostly be used in the desktop/workstation usecase... I guess there must be people using RHEL for that, but I would have thought Fedora was more common?
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      > I would expect WSL to mostly be used in the desktop/workstation usecase It's heavily used for enterprise and production use cases in organizations (often legacy type orgs though ik a F250 tech company that does this as well) who don't want to use additional spend building a dedicated Linux fleet and a dedicated Windows fleet. Before you'd have to use Cygwin and deal with some level of non-reproducibility, but with WSL you can essentially get a MS supported Cygwin. > but I would have thought Fedora was more common The Linux workstation usecase is extreme niche compared to the dual server usecase.
  - cdkmoose 2y ago
    I also think there is a chunk of the audience that would like to develop on the same distro they would be deploying to. There is a fair amount of RHEL in production environments. Larger operations may be running Windows for business purposes and being able to work with WSL/RHEL on the same (or upgraded for developers) machine makes some business sense.
- pjmlp 2y ago
  What majority? I haven't touched Fedora in years.
bravetraveler 2y ago
Shouldn't be too tough (lol) to make your own; I did with a Fedora container image and some WSLg bits from COPR
chasil 2y ago
Oracle Linux has been there the whole time. It's free, and it tries to be bug-for-bug compatible with RHEL. C:\>wsl.exe -l -o The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed. Install using 'wsl --install -d <Distro>'. NAME FRIENDLY NAME Ubuntu Ubuntu Debian Debian GNU/Linux kali-linux Kali Linux Rolling Ubuntu-18.04 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Ubuntu-20.04 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Ubuntu-22.04 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Ubuntu-24.04 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS OracleLinux_7_9 Oracle Linux 7.9 OracleLinux_8_7 Oracle Linux 8.7 OracleLinux_9_1 Oracle Linux 9.1 openSUSE-Leap-15.6 openSUSE Leap 15.6 SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP5 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP5 SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP6 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP6 openSUSE-Tumbleweed openSUSE Tumbleweed
- yoyohello13 2y ago
  The only cost is 1 soul.
  - pjmlp 2y ago
    Who knows, they may turn into a motorbike rider during the night.
- quickslowdown 2y ago
  But then you have to use an Oracle product. I'll pass, looks like RHEL is on their way anyways.
  - chasil 2y ago
    Oracle Linux actually adds some significant features to RHEL. Btrfs gets first tier support under the UEK. The UEK also includes all the drivers available in stock Linux that are removed in RHEL. And did I mention that it's free?
    - CoolCold 2y ago
johnnyballgame 2y ago
That's nice. What about Slackware?
- dessimus 2y ago
  Why would Red Hat partner with Microsoft to bring Slackware to WSL? That should be Slackware's decision, no?
2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
They should do Fedora too. I'm forced to use Windows at work with my Fedora in WSL hackjob. It would be nice if it was officially supported.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

63 points by mikece 2y ago

So if I use RHEL on WSL, do I still have to pay Red Hat/IBM for a License ? Or is Microsoft including it in WSL. More curious the anything, me personally I would never use WSL.

pkaye 2y ago
I think it will be available on the Microsoft Store for install like the other Linux distributions available there. Not sure if they will charge for it but it probably will be promoted as a development server.
mistrial9 2y ago
you will be required to use it by your employer
bilekas 2y ago
My guess would be it would be under he same usesge license. For example if your company is already licenced for RHEL then this is just an added avenue of execution. Instead of maybe an extra dedicated REHL workspace or machine you could in theory delegate some of that to an already established Windows Server?
- from-nibly 2y ago
  Why would you run wsl on a server?
  - bilekas 2y ago
    People do strange things! It’s not for me to judge!
    - mikece 2y ago
      This is more true that you would want to know, especially in Windows Server based shops...
  - pjmlp 2y ago
    It is officially supported as way for mixed loads, for example on IoT devices. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot-edge/iot-edge-for-linux-on-windows?view=iotedge-1.5 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot-edge/iot-edge-fo...
dgfitz 2y ago
I would guess you still need a RHEL account to register the VM. In a knock on no entity, this is an easy win for MSFT and RH. Nothing wrong with it.
cpitman 2y ago
If this is for your own use, Red Hat has long had free developer licenses for rhel. https://developers.redhat.com/products/rhel/overview https://developers.redhat.com/products/rhel/overview

bcye 2y ago

Original announcement: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/bringing-red-hat-enterprise-linux-windows-subsystem-linux https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/bringing-red-hat-enterprise-l...

linuxftw 2y ago

When IBM acquired Red Hat, it was supposed to super-charge Red Hat, IBM was going to let them grow. They had an opportunity to really make desktop linux a thing. Now, they're conceding defeat.

jkaplowitz 2y ago
This is no more a sign of defeat than Debian or Ubuntu supporting WSL, which they both do. (Including Ubuntu's paid offering Ubuntu Pro.)
zokier 2y ago
I'm sorry, but ever thinking that IBM acquisition of RH was going to help Linux desktop sounds incredibly naive take. Its not a defeat if they weren't even in the race.
pessimizer 2y ago
Why would IBM care about linux on the desktop? And why would anyone else care if that linux desktop had to be redhat? "IBM’s Red Hat Acquisition Will Pay For Itself By Early Next Year" https://www.nextplatform.com/2024/10/24/ibms-red-hat-acquisition-will-pay-for-itself-by-early-next-year/ https://www.nextplatform.com/2024/10/24/ibms-red-hat-acquisi...
dismalaf 2y ago
Conceding defeat? The use case for this is: corporation has RHEL servers but Windows workstations. Developer wants RHEL on their workstation to develop tools for said server. Support for server infrastructure is where RH and IBM make all their money anyway, why do they care if an individual dev is running RHEL proper or under WSL on workstations?
- linuxftw 2y ago
  > The use case for this is: corporation has RHEL servers but Windows workstations. This is entirely the point I'm making. RH could have used IBM's backing to make desktop linux a 1st class experience. Instead, they're doing none of that, and conceding the desktop market to Windows and Mac.

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

[dupe] Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42183791 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42183791

loudmax 2y ago

That's nice, but it would be even nicer if Red Hat were contributing to Wine or Proton to get Windows applications running reliably on RHEL.

satiated_grue 2y ago
Is there much demand for that in the enterprise spaces where RHEL is used? Some applications, like ESRI, are already packaged by the vendor using Wine on RHEL.

toprerules 2y ago

Somehow they are adding RHEL, but not Fedora which what the majority of WSL users would want to use.

alephnerd 2y ago
Why would they? Fedora usership is significantly less than RHEL, and adding RHEL support to WSL helps the Windows Server use case
- yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
  I would expect WSL to mostly be used in the desktop/workstation usecase... I guess there must be people using RHEL for that, but I would have thought Fedora was more common?
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    > I would expect WSL to mostly be used in the desktop/workstation usecase It's heavily used for enterprise and production use cases in organizations (often legacy type orgs though ik a F250 tech company that does this as well) who don't want to use additional spend building a dedicated Linux fleet and a dedicated Windows fleet. Before you'd have to use Cygwin and deal with some level of non-reproducibility, but with WSL you can essentially get a MS supported Cygwin. > but I would have thought Fedora was more common The Linux workstation usecase is extreme niche compared to the dual server usecase.
- cdkmoose 2y ago
  I also think there is a chunk of the audience that would like to develop on the same distro they would be deploying to. There is a fair amount of RHEL in production environments. Larger operations may be running Windows for business purposes and being able to work with WSL/RHEL on the same (or upgraded for developers) machine makes some business sense.
pjmlp 2y ago
What majority? I haven't touched Fedora in years.

bravetraveler 2y ago

Shouldn't be too tough (lol) to make your own; I did with a Fedora container image and some WSLg bits from COPR

chasil 2y ago

Oracle Linux has been there the whole time. It's free, and it tries to be bug-for-bug compatible with RHEL. C:\>wsl.exe -l -o The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed. Install using 'wsl --install -d <Distro>'. NAME FRIENDLY NAME Ubuntu Ubuntu Debian Debian GNU/Linux kali-linux Kali Linux Rolling Ubuntu-18.04 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Ubuntu-20.04 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Ubuntu-22.04 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Ubuntu-24.04 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS OracleLinux_7_9 Oracle Linux 7.9 OracleLinux_8_7 Oracle Linux 8.7 OracleLinux_9_1 Oracle Linux 9.1 openSUSE-Leap-15.6 openSUSE Leap 15.6 SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP5 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP5 SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP6 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP6 openSUSE-Tumbleweed openSUSE Tumbleweed

yoyohello13 2y ago
The only cost is 1 soul.
- pjmlp 2y ago
  Who knows, they may turn into a motorbike rider during the night.
quickslowdown 2y ago
But then you have to use an Oracle product. I'll pass, looks like RHEL is on their way anyways.
- chasil 2y ago
  Oracle Linux actually adds some significant features to RHEL. Btrfs gets first tier support under the UEK. The UEK also includes all the drivers available in stock Linux that are removed in RHEL. And did I mention that it's free?
  - CoolCold 2y ago

johnnyballgame 2y ago

That's nice. What about Slackware?

dessimus 2y ago
Why would Red Hat partner with Microsoft to bring Slackware to WSL? That should be Slackware's decision, no?

2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago

They should do Fedora too. I'm forced to use Windows at work with my Fedora in WSL hackjob. It would be nice if it was officially supported.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]