What's New with the Windows Subsystem for Linux on Windows 11 | Hacker News Reader

What's New with the Windows Subsystem for Linux on Windows 11

windowscentral.com

30 pointsteleforce11 comments

So you can access the Linux files from within Windows File Explorer it seems.

But Windows-11 still has the 260 char path-length limitation by default I believe. Linux does not have that limitation. So what happens if you try to access Linux files whose path is > 260 from within the File Explorer?

> So you can access the Linux files from within Windows File Explorer it seems.

You could always do this. I use it a lot. Type "\\wsl$" in explorer. If your WSL distro is running a folder for it will appear here. Go into it and you'll be greeted by the WSL distro's rootfs.

Windows has been able to handle longer file paths for a while now but it needs enabling

https://www.howtogeek.com/266621/how-to-make-windows-10-acce...

I think it’s awesome the amount of effort Microsoft is putting into WSL. Frankly, they’re way more open to FOSS integration compared to apple.

Well, they have to, in order to stay relevant among non-ms-stack developers.

Macs have been compatible enough since release of OS X.

To be fair there are still similarities between the siblings that make many tools you use behave in the same way. But also true that Apple is generally in favor of lock-in.

Yes and no. I flip between OSX, Windows 11 and Debian 11. The WSL2 and wayland stuff in Windows 11 is impressive, but after a while it feels like an OK linux distribution with a terrible window manager. OSX feels ancient, i have a VM with solaris 2.6 from 1995 in it and frankly OSX just isnt that much different.

Both make me appreciate debian more and more.

> While these commands are new to Windows 11, they are also available for Windows 10.

Here's hoping the disk mounts and file explorer integration make it to Windows 10 as well.

Even X11 forwarding with ssh -Y just works!

Anyone know if it’s possible to mount arbitrary non-WSL 9p exports in Explorer?

WSL also stands for Wolf in Sheep's Livery.

I think it says something that this Wikipedia article has an entire long list of examples specifically about Microsoft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguis...

I live in a world where nearly every day I get emails from [insert tech provider] that they have altered this or that policy unilaterally, which they're entitled to do from their end, but I am not from my end.

In such a world, I am not going to hitch any business cart to a proprietary horse that is difficult to un-hitch from. Being personally annoyed is one thing, having your business jeopardized because you don't control your whole stack is ... something else.

> having your business jeopardized because you don't control your whole stack

It's hypothetically possible, but in reality most businesses are just fine outsourcing most of their stack to Windows, Mac, Zoom, GSuite, Outlook, Slack, AWS, Azure, Salesforce, etc. Don't confuse a possibility for likelihood.

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