FYI - Windows Subsystem for Linux

[Tony Su]

Just came across this based on a post in the openSUSE Tech forums...

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq

Something brand new (only with very latest version of Windows 10).

Not anything like previous Windows Linux Tools which provided accessibility,
This one runs a windowed Linux environment on Win10... not a full
environment but enough to do things like run python or ruby
applications both of which are notoriously awkward on Windows).

Some comments and observations I posted on this

https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/529940-How-do-I-boot-into-opensuse-from-the-Windows-Subsystem-for-Linux-command-line?p=2857331#post2857331

I haven't heard from anyone yet whether anyone would want me to talk
about openSUSE at whatever meeting, but whenever I do so, I can
include some time demo-ing this.

Tony

[Kevin Keane Subscription]

That has actually been out for about a year or so now, and it is a ported version of Ubuntu.

I've tried it, and it works reasonably well as far as it goes, but it does have severe limitations in some respects. The two biggest ones:

- No fuse support. That means, no encfs, no sshfs, etc.
- No way to access FAT file systems; you can only access NTFS.

I can't blame Microsoft, though; they made a point of marking it as alpha version.

Kevin Keane
Whom the IT Pros Call
The NetTech
760-721-8339
http://www.4nettech.com
Our values: Privacy, Liberty, Justice
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-----Original message-----

Sent: Friday, March 2, 2018 11:01 AM
Subject: FYI - Windows Subsystem for Linux
Just came across this based on a post in the openSUSE Tech forums...
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq
Something brand new (only with very latest version of Windows 10).
Not anything like previous Windows Linux Tools which provided accessibility,
This one runs a windowed Linux environment on Win10... not a full
environment but enough to do things like run python or ruby
applications both of which are notoriously awkward on Windows).
Some comments and observations I posted on this
https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/529940-How-do-I-boot-into-opensuse-from-the-Windows-Subsystem-for-Linux-command-line?p=2857331#post2857331
I haven't heard from anyone yet whether anyone would want me to talk
about openSUSE at whatever meeting, but whenever I do so, I can
include some time demo-ing this.
Tony
--
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list

[Tony Su]

It had been in beta up to about 5 months ago.
It's been officially available only since Windows 1709 (Creator's
Update Anniversary) which started being pushed out approx. Oct 2017.

Support for FUSE?
I guess the question is why you would need it within WSL.
Since the HostOS Windows supports FUSE and other file system related
technologies, for many scenarios you should be able to configure what
you need in a Windows mount,, then mount that in your WSL (see the FAQ
link I provided)
In other words, for anything that might not be supported in WSL, you
should be able to consider doing it in the Windows HostOS and then
expose to the Linux processes running in WSL.

In any case support for FAT was added as an enhancement
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/wsl/2017/04/18/file-system-improvements-to-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux/

For anyone who has to support Windows boxes but need to deploy
something better done in Linux,
My first impressions are pretty good.
The issues I identified had more to do with highly customizing the
basic system, but seems to be a pretty complete platform for anything
running at the application layer, including what is necessary for the
application environment.

Tony







On Fri, Mar 2, 2018 at 5:53 PM, Kevin Keane Subscription

Post by Kevin Keane Subscription
That has actually been out for about a year or so now, and it is a ported version of Ubuntu.
- No fuse support. That means, no encfs, no sshfs, etc.
- No way to access FAT file systems; you can only access NTFS.
I can't blame Microsoft, though; they made a point of marking it as alpha version.
Kevin Keane
Whom the IT Pros Call
The NetTech
760-721-8339
http://www.4nettech.com
Our values: Privacy, Liberty, Justice
See https://www.4nettech.com/corp/the-nettech-values.html
-----Original message-----

Sent: Friday, March 2, 2018 11:01 AM
Subject: FYI - Windows Subsystem for Linux
Just came across this based on a post in the openSUSE Tech forums...
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq
Something brand new (only with very latest version of Windows 10).
Not anything like previous Windows Linux Tools which provided accessibility,
This one runs a windowed Linux environment on Win10... not a full
environment but enough to do things like run python or ruby
applications both of which are notoriously awkward on Windows).
Some comments and observations I posted on this
https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/529940-How-do-I-boot-into-opensuse-from-the-Windows-Subsystem-for-Linux-command-line?p=2857331#post2857331
I haven't heard from anyone yet whether anyone would want me to talk
about openSUSE at whatever meeting, but whenever I do so, I can
include some time demo-ing this.
Tony
--
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list

--
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list

[Kevin Keane Subscription]

Thanks for that update!

 
In my case, I have a few volumes encrypted with encfs. Encfs in Linux requires fuse. Encfs on Windows gives you a FAT file system. Since neither worked and the encfs file system is critical to almost everything I do, I wasn’t able to use the Linux subsystem.

 
Good to hear that it has been addressed!

 
Sent from Mail for Windows 10

 
From: Tony Su <mailto:***@su-networking.com>
Sent: Friday, March 2, 2018 6:21 PM
To: Main Discussion List for KPLUG <mailto:kplug-***@kernel-panic.org>
Subject: Re: FYI - Windows Subsystem for Linux

 


It had been in beta up to about 5 months ago.
It's been officially available only since Windows 1709 (Creator's
Update Anniversary) which started being pushed out approx. Oct 2017.

Support for FUSE?
I guess the question is why you would need it within WSL.
Since the HostOS Windows supports FUSE and other file system related
technologies, for many scenarios you should be able to configure what
you need in a Windows mount,, then mount that in your WSL (see the FAQ
link I provided)
In other words, for anything that might not be supported in WSL, you
should be able to consider doing it in the Windows HostOS and then
expose to the Linux processes running in WSL.

In any case support for FAT was added as an enhancement
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/wsl/2017/04/18/file-system-improvements-to-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux/

For anyone who has to support Windows boxes but need to deploy
something better done in Linux,
My first impressions are pretty good.
The issues I identified had more to do with highly customizing the
basic system, but seems to be a pretty complete platform for anything
running at the application layer, including what is necessary for the
application environment.

Tony







On Fri, Mar 2, 2018 at 5:53 PM, Kevin Keane Subscription

Post by Kevin Keane Subscription
That has actually been out for about a year or so now, and it is a ported version of Ubuntu.
- No fuse support. That means, no encfs, no sshfs, etc.
- No way to access FAT file systems; you can only access NTFS.
I can't blame Microsoft, though; they made a point of marking it as alpha version.
Kevin Keane
Whom the IT Pros Call
The NetTech
760-721-8339
http://www.4nettech.com
Our values: Privacy, Liberty, Justice
See https://www.4nettech.com/corp/the-nettech-values.html
-----Original message-----

Sent: Friday, March 2, 2018 11:01 AM
Subject: FYI - Windows Subsystem for Linux
Just came across this based on a post in the openSUSE Tech forums...
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq
Something brand new (only with very latest version of Windows 10).
Not anything like previous Windows Linux Tools which provided accessibility,
This one runs a windowed Linux environment on Win10... not a full
environment but enough to do things like run python or ruby
applications both of which are notoriously awkward on Windows).
Some comments and observations I posted on this
https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/529940-How-do-I-boot-into-opensuse-from-the-Windows-Subsystem-for-Linux-command-line?p=2857331#post2857331
I haven't heard from anyone yet whether anyone would want me to talk
about openSUSE at whatever meeting, but whenever I do so, I can
include some time demo-ing this.
Tony
--
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list

--
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list

--
KPLUG-***@kernel-panic.org
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