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OT but the name irks me; Windows subsystem for Linux makes it sound like some sort of official Wine layer. It's a Linux subsystem for Windows if anything. It m
by Matl 1y ago
OT but the name irks me; Windows subsystem for Linux makes it sound like some sort of official Wine layer. It's a Linux subsystem for Windows if anything.
It makes it sound like Microsoft is giving some capability to Linux whereas it's the other way around.
- rsynnott 1y agoThere's history here; there was an old thing called Windows Subsystem for Unix. Again, not what you'd expect from the name.
- naikrovek 1y agoThat was ”Windows Services for Unix”.
- littlestymaar 1y agoIt's a “Windows subsystem” for running Linux, but yeah the naming is pretty confusing.
- avestura 1y agoMicrosoft can't name a project leading with a trademark (Linux <something>), hence why it's called WSL. Source: https://x.com/richturn_ms/status/1245481405947076610?s=19 https://x.com/richturn_ms/status/1245481405947076610?s=19
- philshem 1y agoIf you want to see the thread https://xcancel.com/richturn_ms/status/1245481405947076610?s=19 https://xcancel.com/richturn_ms/status/1245481405947076610?s...
- tacker2000 1y agoVery interesting comment there: “ I still hope to see a true "Windows Subsystem for Linux" by Microsoft or a windows becoming a linux distribution itself and dropping the NT kernel to legacy. Windows is currently overloaded with features and does lack a package manager to only get what you need...”
- okanat 1y agoNT is a better consumer kernel that Linux. It can survive many driver crashes that Linux cannot. Why should Microsoft drop a better kernel for a worse one?
- ashirviskas 1y agoCan you expand on this? I've used Windows 10 for 2-3 years when it came out and I remember BSODs being hell. Now I only experienced something close to that when I set up multiseat on single PC with AMD and Nvidia GPUs and one of them decided to fall asleep. Or when I undervolt GPU too much.
- okanat 1y agoOf course that depends on the component and the access level. RAM chip broken? Tough luck. A deep kernel driver accessing random memory like CrowdStrike; you'll still crash. One needs an almost microkernel-like separation for preventing such issues. However, there are certain APIs like WDDM timeout detection and recovery: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/display/timeout-detection-and-recovery https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/d... . It is like a watchdog that'll restart the driver without BSOD'ing. You'll get a crash dump out of it too.
- _flux 1y agoMeanwhile in Linux we cannot even restart compositor without killing all GUI apps. I swear sometimes progress goes backwards..
- koakuma-chan 1y agoGNU/Linux Subsystem for Windows
- whoopdedo 1y agoIBM marketed "OS/2 for Windows" which made it sound like a compatibility layer to make Windows behave like OS/2. In truth it was the OS/2 operating system with drivers and conversion tools that made it easier for people who were used to Windows.
- loloquwowndueo 1y agoUntrue. OS/2 for windows leveraged the user’s existing copy of windows for os/2’s compatibility function instead of relying on a bundled copy of windows, like the “full” Os/2 version. Os/2 basically ran a copy of windows (either the existing one or bundled one) to then execute windows programs side by side with os/2 (and DOS) software.
- ryao 1y agoIt was previously called the Windows Subsystem for Android before it pivoted. It had a spiritual predecessor called Windows Services for UNIX. I doubt the name had been chosen for the reasons you say, considering the history. That said, to address the grandparent comment’s point, it probably should be read as “Windows Subsystem for Linux (Applications)”.
- avestura 1y ago>for the reasons you say That's not what I say, that's what the former PM Lead of WSL said. To be fair, Windows Services for UNIX was just Unix services for Windows. Probably the same logic applied there back then: they couldn't name it with a leading trademark (Unix), so they went with what was available.
- naikrovek 1y agoWSA was a separate thing. WSA and WSL both coexisted for a time.
- ryao 1y agoWikipedia states that WSL was made based on WSA.
- naikrovek 1y agoGot a link? WSA didn’t come out until Windows 11 was released, and WSL predates Windows 11.
- ryao 1y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Subsystem_for_Linux#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Subsystem_for_Linux#Hi... It was called Project Astoria previously. Microsoft releasing the Windows Subsystem for Android for Windows 11 is news to me. I thought that they had killed that in 2016.
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- einpoklum 1y agoThey should not presume to trademark something called a "Linux subsystem for Windows".
- yoda222 1y agoSubsystem Linux for Windows.
- zamadatix 1y agoWindows' Subsystem for Linux :p.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- naikrovek 1y agoThe name is good if you understand what the subsystems are on Windows and how they work. The NT kernel was always designed to host multiple subsystems. This Windows subsystem is for Linux. And that’s why it’s named like that.
- nkydr0i0 1y agoThey tend to name things like that. For example in Azure you have "Azure Database for MySQL" and "Azure Cache for Redis"
- apatheticonion 1y agoI agree that it's a dumb name but I actually think it's an apt description of what it is. We run Linux on top of Windows. Windows is the subsystem for the Linux environment. Still a dumb name.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]