←back to thread

Ubuntu on Windows

(blog.dustinkirkland.com)
2049 points bpierre | 9 comments | 30 Mar 16 16:35 UTC | HN request time: 1.5s | source | bottom
1. otterley ◴[30 Mar 16 17:27 UTC] No.11391114[source]▶
To clarify, it sounds like what Microsoft has added to Windows 10 is a Linux ABI.

This has been done before with other x86 OSes: FreeBSD has had 32-bit ABI compatibility for at least a decade (https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/linuxemu.html), and the "lx branded zone" for Solaris has it as well (https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19455-01/817-1592/gchhy/index.ht...).

replies(4): >>11391435 #>>11391938 #>>11391965 #>>11392282 #
2. jle17 ◴[30 Mar 16 17:55 UTC] No.11391435[source]▶
I think FreeBSD linuxulator has 64bit support too since they introduced Docker support last year.
replies(1): >>11391496 #
3. Sanddancer ◴[30 Mar 16 18:01 UTC] No.11391496[source]▶
That was only for 32 bit containers. FreeBSD 11 should have 64-bit linux support though.
4. melloc ◴[30 Mar 16 18:55 UTC] No.11391938[source]▶
You can't use lx-branded zones in Solaris anymore, but SmartOS has revived and continued the project, and OmniOS has started porting the bits into their distribution, too.
replies(1): >>11392096 #
5. rottyguy ◴[30 Mar 16 18:58 UTC] No.11391965[source]▶
I think this was a smart balance between getting it out there and seeing if it will stick. Someone said POSIX went by the wayside some time back so they may be a little hesitant in jumping all in. If this gets adoption, they can improve upon it in a future release.
6. otterley ◴[30 Mar 16 19:14 UTC] No.11392096[source]▶
Oh, that's a shame. When was it removed?
replies(2): >>11392194 #>>11392217 #
7. bahamat ◴[30 Mar 16 19:25 UTC] No.11392194{3}[source]▶
After Oracle bought Sun. It was never a part of Solaris 11. I don't know if it's still part of Solaris 10 or not, but even if it is, it's only barely usable.

But it's alive and well (and awesome) in SmartOS, with active work going on to merge it into OmniOS, and eventually will be upstreamed to illumos-gate.

8. melloc ◴[30 Mar 16 19:27 UTC] No.11392217{3}[source]▶
It's hard to find an exact date, but according to this blog post, it looks like it was removed in June 2010: http://os-solaris.ru/en/lx-brand-dlya-openindiana-151a/
9. rsync ◴[30 Mar 16 19:37 UTC] No.11392282[source]▶
"FreeBSD has had 32-bit ABI compatibility for at least a decade"

Longer. I was using linux binary compat, in FreeBSD, to run the linux version of vmware workstation back in 2001.

It has always been very well done, and as you can see, not just running 'cat' or 'echo' linux binaries ... but full blown commercial software packages.

I had Windows XP running, as a dev environment, within the Linux version of vmware workstation, on my freebsd laptop. Worked great.

There was an oft-repeated claim in those days (the days of FreeBSD 4.x) that linux binary compat in FreeBSD would run linux binaries faster than linux would.