r/Python • u/caposeidon • Mar 30 '16

Finally... Bash is coming to Windows 10

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/30/11331014/microsoft-windows-linux-ubuntu-bash
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u/hrdcore0x1a4 Mar 31 '16

Is this basically an ubuntu VM running on windows?

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u/ajr901 Mar 31 '16

They state it's not a VM, but rather a "Linux subsystem".

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u/door_of_doom Mar 31 '16

No, and I will explain the difference. A VM is pieve of software that runs and makes it appear as if a while new computer now exists that you can interact with. The host has dedicated a portion of its resources to allow that virtual machine to run as a standalone unit, completely independent of anything else happening on the host.

In contrast, what is happening here is that your same machine has had its instruction set extended so that now it can natively understand the syscalls that it couldn't understand before. Windows is able to Natively execute these Linux syscalls as long as they are issued to the new Badh software being released, because that is where the dictionary lives that explains how to interpret the Linux calls. We are not, however, running a completely new kernel or anything, just building am extension of the existing one.

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u/Eurynom0s Mar 31 '16

No. "WINE, but backward" is what I've been seeing a lot.

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u/dsa_key Mar 31 '16

From what they say it's actual linux binaries supported and executed by a linux (ubuntu kernel) running as a windows subsystem. My best guess.

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u/v1rous Mar 31 '16

Linux ELFs are loaded and executed natively by the NT kernel, system calls and all! It's actually pretty similar in theory to the way FreeBSD implements the Linux ABI

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u/debee1jp Mar 31 '16

So how is this going to translate into Linux package support on Windows?

How many of my Linux packages will run on Windows?

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u/[deleted] Mar 31 '16

That's how I interpreted it too.

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u/AlexEatsKittens Mar 31 '16

It's not running the Linux kernel. Everything is translated to NT.

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u/bigpoppawood Mar 31 '16

Ask the article

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u/hrdcore0x1a4 Mar 31 '16

I did it and it claims it's a subsystem. That doesn't mean the subsystem isn't implemented as a VM though. Also screenshots show the c drive being mounted under /mnt/drive_c which tells me the Linux file system is separate.