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by sbuttgereit 3255 days ago
I disagree. Microsoft is correct; mostly if not entirely.

Q: It's a subsystem? What kind of subsystem?

A: It's a Windows subsystem?

Q: A subsystem for what?

A: It's the Windows subsystem for Linux.

As another commentator mentioned, there's probably a missing possessive ("'s"), but even if we take the proper name to be more of an adjective modifying/qualifying "subsystem", it's a Windows subsystem, it's purpose is running Linux... the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
2 comments
spacehunt 3255 days ago
But we don't have the Windows Subsystem for Win32, the Windows Manager for I/O, etc., so while the naming is technically correct, it is inconsistent.
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dboreham 3255 days ago
Sure there's a subsystem for win32.
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Dylan16807 3254 days ago
"Windows Subsystem ___ Linux" could be fine, but "for" is not the correct word to put in that blank.
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diegoperini 3254 days ago
Why not "Linux Accompanied Windows"? Or "Still Windows but also some Linux"?
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Decade 3254 days ago
But Linux is the one part that is not present. It’s GNU software running in a Windows subsystem. GNU/Windows?
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milcron 3254 days ago
Not true in this instance. They implemented the Linux ABI, which means software can run on the linux subsystem without recompilation.

Cygwin allows running GNU software on Windows, but it doesn't implement the Linux ABI. Therefore Cygwin requires software recompilation.

The big advantage of WSL is that you can run native linux binaries.

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Decade 3250 days ago
#sigh# Clearly the joke was not funny if it had to be explained.

For decades, Richard Stallman has been calling it GNU/Linux, because the OS “aside from the kernel” was GNU, and Linux is the kernel. https://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.en.html

Now, we have a Microsoft system that runs the Linux binaries, which are GNU according to Stallman, but not running them on the Linux kernel. You’re naming the entire system after the one component that is missing. By the same logic that normal Linux should be GNU/Linux, Linux containers on Windows should be GNU/Windows.

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Dylan16807 3254 days ago
The whole point is having the Linux ABI. There are half a dozen ways to run GNU on Windows.
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