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Wilderness Survival Guide
Hubert Tournier edited this page May 31, 2021
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If you want to experience Unix on Windows without waiting for the project progress (not even speaking of completion :-) ) there are several solutions available.
Here's a list of some of them:
| Years | Name | Windows Version | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993-1998 | Microsoft POSIX subsystem | NT | |
| 1999-2004 | Windows Services for UNIX (SFU) | NT | |
| 2005-2015 | Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA) | 2003 R2-2008, Vista, 7 | |
| 2016-today | Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) | 10, 2019 | WSL 2 includes a real Linux kernel running on Hyper-V |
| Years | Name | Windows Version | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995-2021 | Cygwin | All | Focus on compatibility. Stripped down and being phase out on Windows 32bits versions |
| 1998-2019 | MinGW | ? | Focus on simplicity and performance |
| -2012 | UWIN | 95, NT | |
| 2000-2013 | UnxUtils | Win32 | Unmaintained |
| -2017 | GnuWin32 | Win32 | Unmaintained |
| 2014-2020 | GNU on Windows (GOW) | ? | A lightweight alternative to Cygwin |
| 2014-2019 | Babun | ? | Pre-configured Cygwin with a lot of addons, peculiarly a lovable Windows shell |
| Years | Name | Windows Version | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989-2017 | MKS Toolkit | All | |
| 1996-2010 | Interix | NT, 2003 R2-2012, Vista, 7, 8 | Deprecated |
Let's discuss about it if you think I've forgotten other significant ones!
Of course you can also select any real Unix-like system and run it under Windows on VirtualBox.
And one day, when the PNU project has made significant progress, you'll be able to enjoy a FreeBSD Subsystem for Windows (FSW).