Microsoft surprised everybody especially the Linux community developers announcing that it is going to ship Windows 10 with full Linux kernel. It will come up with the latest version of WSL (Windows subsystem for Linux) and the company will include a in-house custom built Linux kernel with it.
Microsoft is preparing for this since long ago. Initially, Microsoft release WSL in 2016 and this was a Beta version. In July 2017, Microsoft removed Beta from the WSL and release WSL as full versions. But, this is the first time Microsoft including Linux kernel as a component.
The announcement was made in a blog by Microsoft and it says
The kernel itself will initially be based on version 4.19, the latest long-term stable release of Linux. The kernel will be rebased at the designation of new long-term stable releases to ensure that the WSL kernel always has the latest Linux goodness.
The kernel provided for WSL2 will be fully open source! When WSL2 is released in Windows Insider builds, instructions for creating your own WSL kernel will be made available on Github. Microsoft will work with developers interested in contributing to help get changes upstream.
Microsoft’s integration of Linux in Windows 10 will interface with a userspace installed via the Windows Store. It’s a big shift for Microsoft, and marks the first time that the Linux kernel will be included as part of Windows. It sounds like this Linux kernel integration will be available later this year, with a Windows 10 update that’s codenamed 19H2.
What is WSL
WSL stands for Windows Subsystem for Linux. This is the way Microsoft started giving Bash and OpenSSH into its windows system.
Microsoft released WSL in various phases. For example; When introduced with the Anniversary Update, only an Ubuntu image was available. The Fall Creators Update moved the installation process for Linux distributions to the Windows Store, and introduced SUSE images
WSL is available only in 64 bit versions of Windows 10 from version 1607. It is also available in Windows Server 2019.
Microsoft announced WSL 2 on May 6th, 2019, which features a completely new VM-based backend in lieu of the prior system call adaptation layer, planned for release through the Windows Insider program in June 2019.
Initially, WSL 1 has a limitation that it can’t run all the Linux software on it because it was designed for the development of applications, and not for desktop environment or production servers.
Tags: Microsoft, WSL, Windows 10, Windows Subsystem for Linux, , SPOKEN by YOU
