Re: [PLUG] Microsoft grafts (most) Linux commands onto Windows

[Walt Mankowski via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>]

On Thu, Jun 04, 2026 at 04:53:25PM -0400, InterLinked via plug wrote:
> On 6/4/2026 10:07 AM, jeffv via plug wrote:
> > Grep this: Microsoft grafts (most) Linux commands onto Windows
> > 
> > https://www.theregister.com/os-platforms/2026/06/03/grep-this-microsoft-grafts-most-linux-commands-onto-windows/5250796
> > 
> > 
> > Coreutils serves over 75 Unix commands in Windows and PowerShell command
> > lines
> 
> Unix commands like grep, gcc, bash, perl, etc. have been available natively
> on Windows for a quarter-century now, see:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Services_for_UNIX
> 
> The UNIX subsystem is built into Windows (well, the more premium editions of
> it, like Windows 7 Enterprise/Ultimate); the tools themselves have to be
> separately downloaded, but it's a simple install. I believe most of the GNU
> utilities are included.
> 
> Then, you can run tools like grep, sed, etc. from Command Prompt. No
> emulators, virtualization, etc. is being used:
> 
> C:\Users\interlinked>grep
> usage: grep [-abcEFGHhIiLlnoPqRrSsUvwx] [-A num] [-B num [-C[num]]
>         [-e pattern] [-f file] [--binary-files=value] [--context[=num]]
>         [--line-buffered] [pattern] [file ...]
> 
> Not exactly the same thing, but the extent to which "grep available on
> Windows in 2026" and even things like WSL have been "revolutionary" have
> always been overhyped, IMO.

I used cygwin on my Windows boxes for a long time. It was fine in that
it gave you a Unix-style command line where you could do things like
grep files on your Windows filesystem in a familiar way.

The nice thing about WSL2 is that it feels much more like you're
running a proper Linux distribution on a VM on your Windows box. I'm
installing normal Ubuntu packages and can run X11 apps. (OK, the only
one I ever run is Emacs. I'm sure there are some that don't work.)

It sounds to me that the nice thing about this announcement isn't that
the tools were never available, but rather that people won't need to
install them since they'll be installed by default. Plus they'll be
officially supported by Microsoft. This will likely make it easier for
Windows admins to start using POSIX tools in Powershell, which sounds
like a good thing.

Walt
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