| Microsoft's massive series of updates to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) was included in Windows Insider build 15002, which began rolling out to Windows 10 users on January 10. |
Microsoft's WSL plans are still tentative and experimental, but the company is constantly adding features to improve and expand WSL at a rapid pace. This can also be seen to a certain extent as a hint that Microsoft aims to make it a solid alternative to other Linux distributions.
The latest version of WSL (known as Bash in Windows) aggregates a number of Bash-specific fixes, a popular Linux command- line interface, in an effort to provide "more compatibility, performance, and stability".
Some of these fixes also implement features that were not previously available to the Linux app in WSL, such as support for kernel memory overcommit and previously ignored network stack options. There are other changes that enhance the integration between WSL and Windows. For example, if Windows-side auditing is enabled, the name of any Linux process created in WSL will be recorded in the audit log.
There are also some interesting changes involving the interaction between the two operating systems, such as logging functionality. The latest WSL does not perform scheduled task checks on packages if there is a metered network connection on the Windows host to avoid high bandwidth.
There is another issue in build 15002 though, that Ctrl-C in a Bash session doesn't work. Microsoft provides a solution direction, saying that it must be synchronized with the Windows and Bash development teams. The next Insider build should have a fix. But for someone who heavily uses the Linux command line for work, not having Ctrl-C is a bit like driving a car with only the front brake.
The way guest and host OSes interact with each other in a VM system such as Hyper-V provides Microsoft with a model for dealing with cross-OS issues in the future. But WSL isn't hosted in a VM - in some ways, it's more ambitious: a system call translation layer that maps every Linux system call to a corresponding Windows system call. Turning WSL into a full production environment on Windows for Linux users is hard though - it's a long-term goal after all.
The talk of Microsoft one day producing its own Linux distribution or buying one and then reinventing it has long been around, but with WSL, Microsoft appears to be sprouting Linux support from Windows itself.
Building WSL may be a faster and more profitable way than Microsoft building its own Linux brand. WSL enables users to work simultaneously on the Linux command line, Windows desktop, and Power Shell . And it gives Microsoft another way to attract and retain Windows users.