Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X, OpenGL, and
Unix.
Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs.
Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative
implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code,
however Wine can optionally use native Windows DLLs if they are available. Wine
provides both a development toolkit for porting Windows source code to Unix
as well as a program loader, allowing many unmodified Windows programs
to run on x86-based Unixes, including
Linux,
FreeBSD,
Mac OS X, and
Solaris.
More information can be read in the articles Why Wine
is so important, and Debunking Wine Myths.
If you are wondering how well a particular application works in Wine, please
examine the Applications Database. For
installation instructions and step-by-step help with running Wine, take a look
at the User Guide.
May 2, 2008: Code freeze in effect, on towards wine 1.0!
Wine is finally in code freeze in preparation for releasing wine 1.0, and
we need your help!
If you are a user, now would be the time to help us find regressions and
file them at bugzilla so we know what
we have to fix.
According to Wine's
release plan, wine-1.0.0-rc1, will be the first release candidate for 1.0.
It is expected to be released at 09th of May 2008.
The code freeze will be less rigid at first, but we're serious about not
destabilizing Wine at this point. So go ahead and post your patches, but make
sure you've got your ducks in a row, and don't be surprised if Alexandre
pushes back.
During the code freeze, patches that are simple, come with a conformance
test, fix a regression and/or are low risk are more likely to get in than
other patches. This has always been true, but it's even more true during a
code freeze. We will actively discourage patches that might endanger a June
1.0 release.
There are
45 open 1.0 bugs as of 2 May. Most of these will simply be rolled over
to be fixed for a later release; we only have time to fix a few, and much
as we'd like to fix the rest, most are not showstoppers.
May 2, 2008: Wine 0.9.61 Released
Wine 0.9.61 was released today, with the following main changes:
Automatic updating of the WINEPREFIX directory.
Winhelp now uses Richedit as display engine.
Many RichEdit fixes.
More improvements to IME support.
More quartz fixes.
Implementation for many more Gdiplus functions.
Lots of bug fixes.
Binary packages are in the process of being built and it may take a
few days for them to appear, but the source is
available now.
You can find out more about this release in the
announcement. Check out our
download page for packages for your
distribution.
Wine 0.9.60 was released today, with the following main changes:
Better support for Windows IMEs.
Option for Windows-style window decorations.
Improved system tray behavior.
Window management fixes.
Improved quartz audio support.
Better support for launching apps from Unix file managers.
Lots of bug fixes.
Binary packages are in the process of being built and it may take a
few days for them to appear, but the source is
available now.
You can find out more about this release in the
announcement. Check out our
download page for packages for your
distribution.
Wine 0.9.59 was released today, with the following main changes:
Improved support for the .NET framework.
Better services handling through a separate services.exe process.
Support for ATI fragment shader.
Better support for http proxies.
Window management fixes.
Pre-compiled fonts are now available in the source tree.
Lots of bug fixes.
Binary packages are in the process of being built and it may take a
few days for them to appear, but the source is
available now.
You can find out more about this release in the
announcement. Check out our
download page for packages for your
distribution.
March 26, 2008: CodeWeavers Releases CrossOver Games for Mac and Linux
CodeWeavers has released a new product for Mac OS X and Linux dedicated to running Windows games. Out of the box CrossOver Games supports such popular Windows games as Team Fortress 2, CounterStrike: Source, Eve Online, Guild Wards, World of Warcraft, and more. A trial version is available for download.
Wine 0.9.58 was released today, with the following main changes:
The default version is now Windows XP.
Many Richedit improvements.
Beginning of jscript dll support.
Shell folders now respect XDG directory configuration.
Many translation updates.
Lots of bug fixes.
Binary packages are in the process of being built and it may take a
few days for them to appear, but the source is
available now.
You can find out more about this release in the
announcement. Check out our
download page for packages for your
distribution.
"Experts say the use of Wine by a corporation such as Disney to solve a technology problem gives legitimacy to the idea of running Linux on the desktop." - eWeek
