Is WSL as good as a true Linux install?

[Gat Pelsinger]

I am getting nowhere in programming without learning how to use Linux. But the problem is that I am not allowed to dual boot with Linux on the PC I have, so I was looking towards solutions like the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Is it sufficient for programming or do I need a full VM? Well I heard that WSL 2 is also kind of like a VM.

[igormp]

3 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

Is it sufficient for programming or do I need a full VM? Well I heard that WSL 2 is also kind of like a VM.

WSL2 is a full VM under Hyper-V with lots of quality of life stuff baked in. For your needs it will do perfectly, go ahead and go crazy. Worst comes you can just nuke and and restart from scratch.

As for you post title:

Quote

Is WSL as good as a true Linux install?

It is not, there are some noticeable performance issues and other minor limitations, but for your specific case I'd say it's the best bet and those differences from a native install shouldn't hinder you in anyway (nor will you notice it).

 

 

So yes, please do WSL, answering your stuff about compilers on Windows and WinAPI is a bit weird lol

[spiroulis]

7 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

I am getting nowhere in programming without learning how to use Linux. But the problem is that I am not allowed to dual boot with Linux on the PC I have, so I was looking towards solutions like the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Is it sufficient for programming or do I need a full VM? Well I heard that WSL 2 is also kind of like a VM.

in this semester i had exactly the same issue and used wsl2. It is great for learning how to use linux but keep in mind that sometimes some commands will not work properly. Also as a side quest i tried using wsl2 to host a lego universe server and the performance was horrible in comparison to an actual linux install on a much weaker computer. Compiling simple programs is instant, dont know how it would go about bigger ones with many libraries to link tho. But generally its a great option in order to learn the basics of linux.

[igormp]

2 minutes ago, spiroulis said:

Compiling simple programs is instant, dont know how it would go about bigger ones with many libraries to link tho

It's slow compared to a bare metal install, but it's still way faster compared to windows. I don't remember why, but compilers on windows have some issues doing stuff fast. I guess that's related to antivirus stuff or how windows deals with file access.

3 minutes ago, spiroulis said:

But generally its a great option in order to learn the basics of linux.

If your workloads aren't that IO bound and you still need windows for other stuff, it's actually pretty doable for actual, proper work, not only learning.

[ieleja]

On 3/4/2024 at 2:11 PM, Gat Pelsinger said:

Is it sufficient for programming or do I need a full VM?

For me WSL is no way to go, because Microsoft tries it as your (his/shes) windows installation, remove something, edit, install, reconfigure — have fine tuned WSL Debian backup rsync system and the, after Windows 10 update, it was removed completely. I build it again, after some time ... yes, it was removed again...

[wasab]

I only know that my professor told me a strict no to wsl when i was learning unix system fundamentals back in school. It is either to use a vm or ssh into the school linux servers to do our programming assignments. 

[Gat Pelsinger]

10 hours ago, wasab said:

I only know that my professor told me a strict no to wsl when i was learning unix system fundamentals back in school. It is either to use a vm or ssh into the school linux servers to do our programming assignments. 

WSL was there when you were in school? Look, I have a very dry sense of humor. 

[wasab]

4 hours ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

WSL was there when you were in school? Look, I have a very dry sense of humor. 

Yes. It had existed since 2016

[GoodBytes]

WSL2 is what we use in our development workflow.

0 issue, it's been real solid.

We use Ubuntu LTS on it (gets updated over time).

 

Everything we throw at it works perfectly. Out of the box GUI support requires Win11, else you'll need to use a X11 Display Server under Windows.

 

Many popular IDEs for development have WSL integration support for a seamless experience and best performance.

It's also best to keep all project files under WSL2 environment for best performance.

 

Use Windows Terminal: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n0dx20hk701 (built-in and default under Win11)

It's a modern terminal that supports everything, which the old Command Prompt just doesn't as it was never really updated since the early days of Windows 10 to make it usable... but only that. It needed to be reworked from the ground up, and that is what Windows Terminal is. It opretty much supports everything you expect. Unicode, Emoticons, all types of fonts, font smoothing, panes, tabs, links, and lots more. It is nicely customizable as well.

[Lupino]

On 3/6/2024 at 2:57 AM, wasab said:

I only know that my professor told me a strict no to wsl when i was learning unix system fundamentals back in school. It is either to use a vm or ssh into the school linux servers to do our programming assignments. 

WLS 1 was pretty limited as it brought its own linux kernel that lacked some features of native Linux. It was more like "bash for windows". But WSL 2 is basicly a virtual linux machine built on top of Windows. As such, performance is a bit lower compared to native linux, something around 90%. But with WSL 2, I haven't yet found any tools that is not working; I even got GUI programmes to work nicely.

[Flavius Heraclius]

5 hours ago, Lupino said:

WLS 1 was pretty limited as it brought its own linux kernel that lacked some features of native Linux. It was more like "bash for windows". But WSL 2 is basicly a virtual linux machine built on top of Windows. As such, performance is a bit lower compared to native linux, something around 90%. But with WSL 2, I haven't yet found any tools that is not working; I even got GUI programmes to work nicely.

Yeah, I recently messed around with WSL 2 having only used WSL 1 back when it first came out, and I was shocked by how much easier getting graphical programs running was. Even the installation process now is so straightforward. Microsoft has really improved the process for getting up and running with it over the past few years.

I usually direct my students towards using WSL if they need a Linux environment--it's way better than fighting with a VM or trying to get a POSIX toolchain set up and working natively on Windows.