Oracle Linux has been there the whole time. It's free, and it tries to be bug-for-bug compatible with RHEL.
C:\>wsl.exe -l -o
The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed.
Install using 'wsl --install -d <Distro>'.
NAME FRIENDLY NAME
Ubuntu Ubuntu
Debian Debian GNU/Linux
kali-linux Kali Linux Rolling
Ubuntu-18.04 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu-20.04 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu-22.04 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Ubuntu-24.04 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
OracleLinux_7_9 Oracle Linux 7.9
OracleLinux_8_7 Oracle Linux 8.7
OracleLinux_9_1 Oracle Linux 9.1
openSUSE-Leap-15.6 openSUSE Leap 15.6
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP5 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP5
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP6 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP6
openSUSE-Tumbleweed openSUSE TumbleweedBut then you have to use an Oracle product. I'll pass, looks like RHEL is on their way anyways.
The only cost is 1 soul.
AlmaLinux 9 is in the Microsoft Store for free as well, if looking for another RHEL clone.
Original announcement: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/bringing-red-hat-enterprise-l...
That's nice, but it would be even nicer if Red Hat were contributing to Wine or Proton to get Windows applications running reliably on RHEL.
Somehow they are adding RHEL, but not Fedora which what the majority of WSL users would want to use.
What majority?
I haven't touched Fedora in years.
I did recently, while on a distro-hopping journey. It was super nice experience, IMO, next best to Ubuntu for development. It looks nice, and it runs smooth, getting up and running with my stack was super simple, no issues with JB IDEs, etc... The only reason I switched to Pop_OS was basically that I am far more used to apt commands and general Ubuntu ecosystem, not to mention most of the VMs I work with are Ubuntu server, so I don't get cognitive-stall when looming around servers...
Why would they?
Fedora usership is significantly less than RHEL, and adding RHEL support to WSL helps the Windows Server use case
I also think there is a chunk of the audience that would like to develop on the same distro they would be deploying to. There is a fair amount of RHEL in production environments. Larger operations may be running Windows for business purposes and being able to work with WSL/RHEL on the same (or upgraded for developers) machine makes some business sense.
I would expect WSL to mostly be used in the desktop/workstation usecase... I guess there must be people using RHEL for that, but I would have thought Fedora was more common?
> I would expect WSL to mostly be used in the desktop/workstation usecase
It's heavily used for enterprise and production use cases in organizations (often legacy type orgs though ik a F250 tech company that does this as well) who don't want to use additional spend building a dedicated Linux fleet and a dedicated Windows fleet.
Before you'd have to use Cygwin and deal with some level of non-reproducibility, but with WSL you can essentially get a MS supported Cygwin.
> but I would have thought Fedora was more common
The Linux workstation usecase is extreme niche compared to the dual server usecase.
So if I use RHEL on WSL, do I still have to pay Red Hat/IBM for a License ? Or is Microsoft including it in WSL.
More curious the anything, me personally I would never use WSL.
If this is for your own use, Red Hat has long had free developer licenses for rhel.
My guess would be it would be under he same usesge license. For example if your company is already licenced for RHEL then this is just an added avenue of execution. Instead of maybe an extra dedicated REHL workspace or machine you could in theory delegate some of that to an already established Windows Server?
Why would you run wsl on a server?
People do strange things! It’s not for me to judge!
I think it will be available on the Microsoft Store for install like the other Linux distributions available there. Not sure if they will charge for it but it probably will be promoted as a development server.
I would guess you still need a RHEL account to register the VM.
In a knock on no entity, this is an easy win for MSFT and RH. Nothing wrong with it.
you will be required to use it by your employer
[dupe] Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42183791
Shouldn't be too tough (lol) to make your own; I did with a Fedora container image and some WSLg bits from COPR
They should do Fedora too. I'm forced to use Windows at work with my Fedora in WSL hackjob. It would be nice if it was officially supported.
That's nice. What about Slackware?
Why would Red Hat partner with Microsoft to bring Slackware to WSL?
That should be Slackware's decision, no?
When IBM acquired Red Hat, it was supposed to super-charge Red Hat, IBM was going to let them grow. They had an opportunity to really make desktop linux a thing.
Now, they're conceding defeat.
Why should they?
IBM doesn't care about desktop PC since OS/2, and Red-Hat famously abandoned Linux Desktop asserting it doesn't make any money.
They sponsor GNOME to the extent an enterprise workstation needs a GUI of some sort, and that is about it.
This is no more a sign of defeat than Debian or Ubuntu supporting WSL, which they both do. (Including Ubuntu's paid offering Ubuntu Pro.)
Conceding defeat?
The use case for this is: corporation has RHEL servers but Windows workstations. Developer wants RHEL on their workstation to develop tools for said server.
Support for server infrastructure is where RH and IBM make all their money anyway, why do they care if an individual dev is running RHEL proper or under WSL on workstations?
> The use case for this is: corporation has RHEL servers but Windows workstations.
This is entirely the point I'm making. RH could have used IBM's backing to make desktop linux a 1st class experience. Instead, they're doing none of that, and conceding the desktop market to Windows and Mac.
Why would IBM care about linux on the desktop? And why would anyone else care if that linux desktop had to be redhat?
"IBM’s Red Hat Acquisition Will Pay For Itself By Early Next Year"
https://www.nextplatform.com/2024/10/24/ibms-red-hat-acquisi...
I'm sorry, but ever thinking that IBM acquisition of RH was going to help Linux desktop sounds incredibly naive take. Its not a defeat if they weren't even in the race.