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Microsoft Releases New Tool To Get More Distros on Windows (zdnet.com)
Microsoft has released a tool to help Linux distribution maintainers bring their distros to the Windows Store to run on Windows 10's Windows Subsystem for Linux. From a report: Microsoft describes the tool as a "reference implementation for a Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) distribution installer application," which is aimed at both distribution maintainers and developers who want to create custom Linux distributions for running on WSL. "We know that many Linux distros rely entirely on open-source software, so we would like to bring WSL closer to the OSS community," said Tara Raj of Microsoft's WSL team. "We hope open-sourcing this project will help increase community engagement and bring more of your favorite distros to the Microsoft Store." WSL helps programmers build a full Linux development environment for testing production code on a Windows machine.
The one thing Windows Subsystem For Linux doesn't actually have is....Linux. For once, the argument about GNU/Linux is completely correct and relevant. Linux is the kernel - Windows is using its own kernel for ELF support and various APIs. It isn't Linux. Even the Wikipedia article on the naming controversy states that the shorter Linux "...serves as a generic term for systems that combine that kernal with software from multiple other sources".
I mean, I'm not exactly getting bent out of shape over it. I just find it wryly amusing.