It attempts to adapt Arch Linux for the WSL host

Oct 4, 2016 22:35 GMT  ·  By

It appears that there's a new project on GitHub, called alwsl, which promises to let you install the Arch Linux operating system in the WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) host.

If you have no idea what we've just said, we'd like to inform you first that the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a new Windows 10 feature that lets you run native Linux command-line tools directly on the Windows operating system. For example, Canonical and Microsoft brought Bash on Ubuntu on Windows using the new WSL functionality.

And now, the alwsl project, which is developed by a group of German developers that call themselves "Turbo Developers," offers a .bat file that you can use to install the famous and powerful Arch Linux distribution on the WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) host.

We have to admit that alwsl is an interesting project, and it opens the door for more developers to create similar scripts that let you install other popular GNU/Linux distributions on a WSL host. alwsl was tested with all editions of Windows 7 and Windows 8, as well as with Windows 8.1 Home and Pro Editions, and Windows Server 2012 R2.

First stable release coming December 2016

At the moment of writing this blog article, alwsl is at version 0.05, which is an unstable developer preview that you should not use to alter your Windows 10 installation in an attempt to install the Arch Linux operating system. However, you can track the progress of the first real release, alwsl 0.6, on the project's GitHub page.

"This release will bring the familiar 'Bash on Windows' environment to all supported Windows versions. The alwsl protocol abstracts different frameworks available on different versions of Windows, to provide the same functionality anywhere (i.e. archlinux userland, native file system access, official support for X apps etc.)," said the developers.

alwsl 1.0 will be able not only to install Arch Linux on the Windows Subsystem for Linux host in Windows 10 editions that support it but also to create and manage users and snapshots. Also, it looks like it will get rolling upgrades just like a normal Arch Linux installation gets. The final release is expected to launch in December 2016.