Foreign LINUX: Running Unmodified Linux Binaries On Windows

Written by Michael Larabel in Operating Systems on 12 March 2015 at 11:24 AM EDT. 24 Comments
OPERATING SYSTEMS
Foreign LINUX is a new open-source project serving as a dynamic binary translator and Linux system call interface emulator. Foreign LINUX is designed to allow unmodified Linux binaries to run on Windows without any system changes or special drivers.

Foreign LINUX is currently capable of running basic Linux binaries such as for Bash, Nano, Vim, Pacman, Wget, and also slightly more advanced binaries like glxgears, xeyes, Python, and GCC. Foreign LINUX doesn't require any privileged code on Windows, supports client-side networking, and has other basic features but is missing major items like process management, multi-threading, signals, and file permission handling.

For those wondering how Foreign LINUX compares to alternatives like Cygwin, there's a comparison page and more information on this project via its GitHub page. The code is licensed under the GPLv3+.
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Michael Larabel

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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