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Microsoft is bringing Bash to Windows

By Ng Chong Seng - on 31 Mar 2016, 12:19am

Microsoft is bringing Bash to Windows

As expected, Microsoft has announced at its Build conference that it's bringing the Bash shell (a command line tool for Linux) to Windows. A bash.exe (executable) in the Windows/System32 directory running in the cmd.exe console, it’s important to stress that what you’re getting here is a native Bash experience; no virtual machine or tools like Cygwin is required.

In a nutshell, Bash on Windows is achieved by having native Ubuntu Linux binaries running on Windows, and it has access to the Windows file system. (Microsoft calls it Windows Subsystem for Linux.) Because it's a true Ubuntu image on top of Windows, you get all the Linux tools like apt, ssh, awk, sed, grep, vi, emacs, and more. Microsoft has apparently partnered with Canonical, Ubuntu’s parent company, for this.

This move is just the latest of a series of love letters Microsoft has sent to the open-source community. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced (a preview of) SQL Server on Linux.

New tools for bringing apps to Windows 10 from any platform

Bash aside, Microsoft has also shared a new desktop app converter for Project Centennial, which will enable Win32 and .NET developers to easily bring their apps to the Universal Windows Platform. Developers can extend their applications with Universal Windows Platform capabilities and distribute their apps in the Windows Store.

There's Xamarin, too, to aid .NET developers more easily share common app code across Windows, iOS and Android apps, while still delivering fully native experiences for each platform.

Those interested to try out the new features in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update can join the Windows Insider program and install the latest build. Starting today, developers in the Windows Insider Program can access the Windows Anniversary SDK Preview to explore the new features.

You can read more about the Windows 10 Anniversary Update here.

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