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The New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) Architecture [video]

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Re: The New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) Architecture [video]

#81
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if it needs hyper-v, then what's the point? how is it fundamentally different from just running ubuntu in virtualbox with a shared network drive, then? except where the terminal window is?

The tight integration of course. And not having to use Virtualbox.

Well, you won't be able to use Virtualbox anymore.. at least for 64 bit OSes :(

Re: The New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) Architecture [video]

#82
post #12

This seems to run on a VM that dynamically adjusts its RAM size according to the current usage. Does a VM like this have any kind of file cache?

This is already supported in HyperV VM, and the concept is old: it is called ballooning.

Basically a driver in the Linux guest (hv_balloon for HyperV, but you have the same things for KVM, VMWare etc.) can artificially "inflates" its memory use when detecting too much unused memory and give it back to the host. When the guest needs more memory, the balloon driver will give the memory back. Couple with hotplug memory support and things can be pretty dynamic.

Not sure if they do something more sophisticated for WSL2 though.

Re: The New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) Architecture [video]

#85
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't tweak anything after installing Debian/RHEL at work or at home. They're stable and flexible. IMO, the folks who spend hours customizing their desktops are usually the ones who don't know linux well and want to feel like they do.

A more positive perspective, they want to learn what they can do. I remember trying every distribution, DE, and window manager when I started with Linux. These days I stick with stock GNOME on Fedora.

When I was a teenager, my father brought an Ubuntu 6.06 CD home from his workplace. It didn’t interest him much, but he let me play with it on an old family computer. Once the setup finished I spent as much time as I could playing with the colour scheme, figuring out how to install Compiz for the cube animation, and making Kingdom Hearts wallpapers. Those activities were mostly playful, but they ended up helping me get exposure to tools like cd, ls, and apt-get.

Today I feel a lot more confident in using Linux (or any Unix, really), but that’s likely 100% due to having time to spend playing and being curious.

There’s a lot of discussion about an education in computing helping people get ahead economically, but part of me wonders how much proficiency comes from being a child on a Commodore 64 than learning express+mongodb in a few weeks (not that being the latter is a bad thing, either!).

Re: The New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) Architecture [video]

#86
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I am aware of the Linux emulation in FreeBSD and elsewhere.

How is it pushing the boundaries of OS research then ?

Which systems do you think are more similar: Windows and Linux or FreeBSD and Linux?

Presenting a Linux syscall interface on top of Windows is a hard task. The systems have fundamentally different approaches to many OS functionalities. In general you cannot just 1:1 map syscalls between the two. I am very familiar with the Windows kernel and fairly familiar with the Linux kernel and I am 100% convinced of this.

This is not to minimize the FreeBSD achievement. However I expect that mapping from Linux to FreeBSD and back would be an easier task. I should note here that I only know generalities about the FreeBSD kernel and would be willing to be educated if that is not the case and done in good faith.

Re: The New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) Architecture [video]

#88
post #83

Why would I want to run a proprietary, closed-source implementation of what is supposed to be an open source operating system?

You personally? Hard to say since we don’t know your needs.

But other people seem to have a reason, based on the comments here and in every submission about WSL.

What are your needs?

Re: The New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) Architecture [video]

#90

Although many people seem to be receiving the WSL2 news well, I am one of the few that feels that we will be missing something important with this new direction. WSL1 was pushing the boundaries of OS research: - a method for having multiple syscall interfaces in a mainstream OS - processes in WSL1 were real NT processes (even if lacking some of the NTOS environment) - direct integration with the rest of the OS withou…

As described in the Video, they could not keep up with feature parity of syscalls in Linux and some concepts are simply incompatible with the two systems. They reference the concept of open file handles and moving folder structures.

I think they found the boundary of OS research in this case, and a better product is using the actual Linux kernel.

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