Talk:Wine (software)

WINE Operating Systems
This article needs clarification. I can't tell whether or not there is a version of this for non-Linux OS. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dullstar (talk • contribs) 17:53, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

It also has a version maintained for os x, and the way it is writen could easily be ported to an unix-like os.--Alex at kms (talk) 06:30, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

Why PlayOnLinux redirects here?
... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.148.37.120 (talk • contribs) 13:41, 26 June 2009


 * You'll have to provide us with a little more to go on than that.  [ジャム] [ t  -  c  ] 13:07, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Windows Mobile?
Does Wine support Windows Mobile applications? --164.67.235.98 (talk) 00:49, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
 * No. Currently, only software for desktop versions work. I think a clarification may be needed here. (Stefan2 (talk) 09:55, 20 August 2011 (UTC))

New wine logo/icon
http://www.airwebreathe.org.uk/wine-icon/

http://www.winehq.org/images/winehq_logo_glass.png —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sav vas (talk • contribs) 20:32, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

And an svg version: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wine-mirror/wine/master/programs/winecfg/logo.svg — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.48.53.157 (talk) 13:33, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

Wine, a recursive acronym for...
Why does this article start with such an awkward sentence? Is it really of such monumental importance to let everybody know what "Wine" stands for? Surely it would be must better just to start the article with "*Wine* is a free software application that aims to allow Unix-like computer operating systems to execute programs written for Microsoft Windows." There is a "Name" section in the article to explain it more fully, after all; alternatively it could be explained in the first paragraph, but I don't see how it adds to that sentence.

The current initial sentence frankly reads as though the phrase about recursive acronyms was put there gratuitously to satisfy some nerd's infatuation with recursive acronyms. 143.167.37.22 (talk) 14:47, 19 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I've cut down the lead. Let's see if it's reverted... Alksentrs (talk) 00:51, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

History of the name?
Apparently WINE not always meant Wine Is Not an Emulator, at one point it was an acronym for WINdows Emulator. See The WINE (WINdows Emulator) FAQ dated 27 November 1998. Anyone know why it was changed? The two even contradict each other. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.135.192.59 (talk) 16:27, 7 June 2010 (UTC)
 * See Talk:Wine (software)/Archive_2. Alksentrs (talk) 17:42, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Wine kind of is an emulator
As mentioned above, Wine was named as an abbreviation for "Windows Emulator," but later the name's meaning was changed. This name change was in made in an attempt to differentiate the function of Wine from other programs that run in virtual machines. But that doesn't necessarily mean that Wine isn't an emulator. In fact, it is an emulator by the definition here on wikipedia. See Emulator. Objectivesea2 (talk) 05:38, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Spelling "extant" ?
developers have suggested enhanced tactics such as examining the sources of extant free and open-source software.

"extant" ..? Electron9 (talk) 17:18, 19 June 2011 (UTC)
 * From Wiktionary: "Currently existing".
 * (Tip: Type "wikt:" followed by a word in the Wikipedia search box to look it up in Wiktionary.)
 * Alksentrs (talk) 18:39, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

Concerning the citation needed tag
The citation needed tag was removed with the edit summary explained in article body. I'm probably just missing it, but I'm not seeing where it explains that that Wine provides "alternative implementations of the DLLs that Windows programs call." - SudoGhost&trade; 19:45, 5 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Are you referring to this? Well, yes, the body does explain it indeed. See Architecture section. Fleet Command (talk) 11:48, 6 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm still not seeing where it says that wine provides alternative implementations of the DLLs that Windows programs call. The only mention of DLLs in that section is at the end, where it discusses Wine's DLLs being used on Windows. - SudoGhost&trade; 14:40, 8 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Section says: "Wine implements the Windows API entirely in user space". The lead section refers to Windows API as "DLLs that Windows programs call". Seriously, isn't that obvious? Still, maybe you like to see more source. Fleet Command (talk) 16:49, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

pwd?
Say you have a dual-boot Windows & Linux machine, you launch Linux and want to run this one Windows program, so you use WINE. Which is the working directory then? $HOME (~/.), or wherever your home dir is on the Windows filesystem? For example, running a Windows web browser, will you find your bookmarks and all your settings, or do you have to recreate all in your *nix home dir? Or point to the Windows folder via a soft link?

I searched the article, the talk page and its archives for "filesystem" (and "file system"), and got no hits. --Jerome Potts (talk) 04:00, 24 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Maybe some things need to be added to the article.
 * The current working directory is the directory in which you run the "wine" command (i.e. the same directory as the one returned by the UNIX "pwd" command). If you type "cd /foo/bar; wine someprogram", then the working directory for the program "someprogram" is the directory /foo/bar. This assumes that the directory /foo/bar can be expressed as a Windows-style directory (e.g. Z:\foo\bar; not sure what happens if this isn't possible). Of course, the program "somedirectory" may change the current working directory (I think Wine's start.exe does this).
 * When you use Wine for the first time, Wine creates a fake C: drive (usually stored as ~/.wine/drive_c). This contains various things which Windows programs expect a C: drive to contain, such as a Windows home directory. All of your settings would have to be set up again in Wine's C: drive.
 * Other X: drives can be created and be mapped to any directory of your choice. For example, if you wish to install a program, you might need to map the directory of the CD's mount point to e.g. D:. By default, Wine creates a Z: drive which points to the UNIX root (/) so that any file can be accessed by Windows programs.
 * You can change the directory to which you map your C: drive. If you change your C: drive to the mount point of a real Windows C: drive, it is supposed to break Windows, requiring a re-installation of Windows.
 * Symlinking to some directories containing settings for other programs might be possible for certain specific programs, but it sounds scary to me.
 * I'll try finding sources for all of this (should be easy) and see what I can add to the article. (Stefan2 (talk) 14:44, 29 September 2011 (UTC))

Re: WINE is not an emulator
The language describing WINE has been changed multiple times. I originally changed it to say "WINE is both a compatibility layer and an emulator." I support that claim using the definition of "Emulator":

The definition for "Emulator" here on Wikipedia states that an emulator is "hardware or software or both that duplicates (or emulates) the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system." By such a definition, WINE is certainly an emulator.

Merriam Webster's definition for emulator: "hardware or software that permits programs written for one computer to be run on another computer." Again, WINE fits the definition.

I have changed the language, hopefully for the final time. It now reads "Wine is a compatibility layer." If anyone wants to add the statement "Wine is not an emulator," they should find supporting sources. It is not sufficient to cite WINE's meaning, nor the fact that WINE differs in function from other emulators. It is still an emulator.

Objectivesea2 (talk) 05:38, 13 June 2011 (UTC) -- Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.92.211.22 (talk)

2023

 * Talk:Wine (software) might fit this topic. Even if Wine fits the definition for an emulator, it's a bit of a messy topic, it's probably safer just to define Wine as a translation layer (compatibility layer). Orowith2os (talk) 00:07, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

Not emulated, but substituted

 * Windows API calls and services also are not emulated, but rather substituted with Linux equivalents that are compiled for x86 and run at full, native speed.

I'm having a hard time parsing this. Does Wine modify executables before they run? Is this just a way of saying that it provides replacements for Windows system calls? Q VVERTYVS (hm?) 22:47, 25 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Pretty much. Wine supplies the actual ABI that Windows software can actually call. Hence "compatibility layer" rather than "emulator". The distinction observably confuses people, but there should be some way of making it clear ... this article's only been having this problem for ten years or so ;-) - David Gerard (talk) 13:46, 26 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Ah, I've looked at the relevant para - it's about services. wineserver supplies those - David Gerard (talk) 13:48, 26 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Right, so it's exactly the same trick that the Linux/Unix emulators on *BSD pull off? Those execute Linux/Unix binaries by linking them with a custom libc, taken from the host operating system, and provide a syscall table that matches the one of their target OS rather than the BSD one.
 * In that case, it's just the Wine devs' opinion that they're not emulating Windows by providing its interface. Q VVERTYVS (hm?) 21:55, 28 December 2013 (UTC)
 * And those get called "compatibility layers" too. See compatibility layer for more on the fine semantic distinction - David Gerard (talk) 22:59, 28 December 2013 (UTC)

2022
Whether Wine "is an emulator" or not depends on exactly how you define "emulator". There is no absolute, perfect, correct definition. As the word is usually used, I would say Wine is an emulator. It does not modify executables. It runs executables in an environment that looks to the executable like Windows.

But really, what's in a name? If the developers say Wine stands for "Wine is not an emulator", that's their decision. It's their work, they can call it whatever they like and explain the name any way they like. If they're using the word "emulator" in an unusual sense ... so what? Longitude2 (talk) 23:13, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

fix preview version
i update preview version to new with [+/-] but the article one time saved doesn't corresponds to correct update. Is possible add stable/preview version to edit and delete this two templates?.

--Patrios (talk) 22:41, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Does the Linux Unified Kernel have enough notability for an article?
It's actually nothing whatsoever to do with Wine, and it doesn't have an article itself, just a redirect here for no actually good reason. Being something that emulates a bit of Windows in Linux is not really sufficient - David Gerard (talk) 23:46, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

API or rather ABI?
An API serves source code portability, it results in being able to compile, then execute programs. The same API can be maintained over multiple instruction sets, e.g. x86, ARM and Power Architecture. An ABI server binary portability, it results in being able to execute already compiled programs. It is not possible to have the same ABI over different Instruction sets!

This is absolutely not the same. It is much harder to implement and maintain an ABI. In case you want to run already compiled programs, Adobe Photoshop or some Video game, you care about the ABI. ScotXW (talk) 12:03, 27 February 2014 (UTC)


 * I suspect you're quite correct here. WineHQ talks about "API calls" (and so does the article), but the way that a binary makes an API call is ... using the ABI - David Gerard (talk) 20:18, 27 February 2014 (UTC)


 * I've changed "API" to "ABI" as appropriate (in the ones I left, I think they really do mean "API") - David Gerard (talk) 20:23, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Any evidence of noteworthiness for Pipelight/wine-compholio?
The refs appear to be first-party. I've never heard of this thing. Has Pipelight/wine-compholio attracted any verifiable third-party noteworthiness anywhere? - David Gerard (talk) 20:37, 17 April 2014 (UTC)


 * I'd try to explain. Take netflix which is used by quite a lot of people. It does not work on linux, but with Pipelight/wine-compholio does. For those netflix users which have linux the software it is noteworthy. Then there is no other way to run Silverlight in native browser, other than with Pipelight. So was there an attempt to have silverlight on linux? yes, Moonlight (runtime) which was abandoned, but still was noteworthy. Pipelight is another attempt which works with most of Silverlight 4/5 apps on the net. SergeyKurdakov (talk) 21:10, 17 April 2014 (UTC)


 * That appears to be "no, there is no verifiable third-party evidence of noteworthiness" - David Gerard (talk) 21:39, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on Wine (software). Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20100211142218/http://www.desktoplinux.com:80/news/NS8454912761.html to http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS8454912761.html
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20081219102335/http://www.winehq.org:80/site/docs/wine-faq/index to https://winehq.org/site/docs/wine-faq/index#UNDER-WHAT-PLATFORMS-WILL-WINE-RUN

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 16:00, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 6 external links on Wine (software). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080820055126/http://www.tatanka.com.br/ to http://www.tatanka.com.br/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061231090654/http://www.winehq.com/?issue=208 to https://winehq.com/?issue=208
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081226133323/http://www.winehq.org/status/directx to https://winehq.org/status/directx
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110110171608/http://gametreelinux.com/ to https://gametreelinux.com/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081113104906/http://www.reactos.org/en/dev_faq.html to http://www.reactos.org/en/dev_faq.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100412042723/http://pages.prodigy.net/michaln/history/os2warp/index.html to http://pages.prodigy.net/michaln/history/os2warp/index.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 22:18, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

Worth mentioning the Catalina issues?
It's been ages since Catalina went live, and TTBOMK Wine still doesn't have a working build for it. I know they're working on it, but should this maybe go in the article anyway? Magic9mushroom (talk) 06:56, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

Too much (non-introduced) jargon
Jargon and things that are not introduced include "WineHQ" (may or may not refer to the web site www.winehq.org), "wine-compholio", "upstream", "bottle versioning", and "fork" (given the intended audience).

--Mortense (talk) 12:29, 28 December 2021 (UTC)


 * I linked the word "fork" to Fork (software development), which is a fairly widely-known term. AnonMoos (talk) 20:52, 28 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Widely-used, at least in the free-software community, but I think User:Mortense may have been suggesting that the intended audience has a lot of members not in the free-software community and not familiar with the term. Guy Harris (talk) 21:06, 28 December 2021 (UTC)

Reception
Section is incredibly one-sided, and may as well be renamed to "Criticism". Even the lead of the section announces that complaints and concerns are coming up. --Talky Muser (talk) 17:19, 16 June 2024 (UTC)