At its BUILD 2025 event today Microsoft has announced the open-sourcing of its popular Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), which allows you to run Linux within Windows, without the overhead of a virtual machine. By open sourcing WSL, Microsoft is inviting developers to make enhancements towards their needs by contributing pull requests to the WSL repository.
The Windows Subsystem for Linux has been available for Windows ever since 2016. Until now, it has been distributed under a proprietary license. While the code for the WSL 2 kernel is available already on GitHub, the availability of the WSL code itself is novel.
WSL is a useful tool for developers who prefer to use Linux command-line tools such as bash, grep, awk, and sed for coding, making applications, or even managing servers. WSL is convenient because it allows developers to use these tools without ever leaving Windows, or having to spin up a virtual machine.
In some fields, such as data science or web development, some tools are exclusive to Linux, so having WSL as an option can be a lifesaver in some situations. WSL is also a decent option if you’re interested in learning Linux and want a safe and easy way to experiment with Linux and its command line without having to install it on your computer alongside Windows.
WSL is not the only thing Microsoft has decided to open source at BUILD 2025, the company has also done the same with GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code. In both situations, Microsoft says it’s eager to get more input from developers so that they can help to shape these tools and make them better.
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