No Thanks
I'm afraid I regard anything from Oracle as irrecoverably tainted.
On the last day of January, Oracle Linux 8.5, the current version of Big Red's RHEL-alike, quietly appeared on the Windows Store. It's packaged to run on the Windows Subsystem for Linux and says it needs Windows 10 version 19041.0 or newer. That's the much-delayed Windows 10 May 2020 update, also known as 20H1. This is the …
If I am going to install a Linux distro, I will do that on my own, thank you very much. I don't need or want Borkzilla's interference in any way, shape or form.
And if I am to use a VM, it will be on a Linux machine hosting a Windows VM. Seems much more secure to me.
Linux exploits have been worthwhile for a looooooooooong time now (they tend to net you server access, cellphone access, and/or embedded systems access, with the latter two being pretty much undetectable in practice[1]). As for the second point:
- Exploits using strictly user-space programs (web servers, e-mail servers, the works) should work just as well in WSL1, WSL2, and bare-metal */Linux[2]
- As for kernel exploits, anything developed for WSL1 _probably_ won't work in "pure" Linux nor WSL2 because it isn't Linux (WSL1 sort-of works like Wine, but more integrated into the Kernel). WSL2 is somewhere between paravirtualized and fully virtualized Linux[3] using a custom kernel provided by Microsoft; exploits found there are much more likely to also be present in vanilla/distro-patched Linux and vice-versa (unless they're in the custom code Microsoft made for better integration with windows/etc).
[1]: Because few if any people are monitoring such devices for naughtiness (and in most cases the device vendor would rather you didn't)
[2]: Includes containers and Linux running in a VM
[3]: Made ostensibly because Microsoft couldn't keep up with the pace of new system calls in vanilla Linux; by (para)virtualizing a patched kernel they had quite a bit less work
It's an easy way to get Red Hat command line syntax and package management for Windows users.
This is great for learners as tutorials are sometimes specific to Red Hat/CentOS and lots of people don't want to learn how to use Red Hat and Ubuntu.
Good news, it's another route for new users into Linux.
Hi. (former) PM for WSL here.
Firstly, the sideswipe at Fedora Remix for WSL was completely unnecessary: When will the software world get over the fact that paying people who build, support, and maintain useful tools, apps, etc. is not only acceptable, but also necessary if we want to enjoy those tools, apps, etc. long into the future?
It's worth remembering that "Blowing out someone else’s flame doesn’t make yours shine brighter".
Secondly, WSL is not an NT kernel "personality" and is in no way related to NT's POSIX subsystem. Not even slightly. They are entirely different implementations of different things and share zero architecture and implementation details.
Good points. I read the article as less of a swipe, more a “uh, there’s something on here claiming to be Fedora but it costs, Fedora is usually free so proceed with caution”. I think the author perhaps suspected that the “Fedora remix” was one of those sketchy knockoff products that plague app stores.
It’s academic now though, as I see someone’s edited the article text - probably prompted by your comments - to make it clearer that the remix is a legit project.
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