Wine
An open-source Windows API compatibility layer that runs Windows programs on macOS and Linux by translating Windows API calls into native system calls. It is not a virtual machine solution and incurs relatively low performance overhead.
Core Facts
Proton is a compatibility tool deeply customized by Valve based on the Wine project, used to run Windows games on Linux.
Wine is an open-source compatibility layer project that enables Windows programs to run on Linux, macOS, and other systems by dynamically translating Windows API calls into POSIX calls.
Wine works by reimplementing Windows API calls on top of the Linux kernel rather than being an emulator or virtual machine, with application code executing directly on the host CPU.
Timeline (last 90 days)
Bottles is a graphical frontend for Wine that manages the dependencies and configurations of different applications by creating isolated "bottle" environments, simplifying the process of installing Windows applications on Linux.
OpenBSD lacks a mature Linux compatibility layer, which makes porting Wine depend more on user-space adaptation than kernel support, and this is one source of the technical difficulty of the work.
Patches for the porting work have been submitted but have not yet been merged into the official ports tree.
Some Wine features (such as DirectX acceleration) may be limited on OpenBSD, but basic Win32 applications are expected to run.
This port is not officially supported but rather community-driven experimental work.
Porting Wine to OpenBSD requires resolving conflicts between OpenBSD-specific security mechanisms (such as W^X and pledge/unveil) and the runtime requirements of Wine.
A discussion about porting Wine to OpenBSD appeared on the OpenBSD mailing list and drew attention on Hacker News with 251 points and 58 comments.
Projects such as Wine and Samba each required more than a decade of community collaboration to reach production-ready maturity.
Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) was born in 1993 and is a compatibility layer that reimplements Windows API calls as POSIX-compliant calls, rather than a virtual machine or emulator.
Proton, developed by Valve on top of Wine, integrates components such as DXVK (a DirectX-to-Vulkan translation layer) and forms the core technical foundation of the Steam Deck.
17 more timeline events
All Facts (20)
Proton is a compatibility tool deeply customized by Valve based on the Wine project, used to run Windows games on Linux.
70%VerifiedWine is an open-source compatibility layer project that enables Windows programs to run on Linux, macOS, and other systems by dynamically translating Windows API calls into POSIX calls.
70%VerifiedWine works by reimplementing Windows API calls on top of the Linux kernel rather than being an emulator or virtual machine, with application code executing directly on the host CPU.
65%VerifiedProton is a compatibility tool deeply customized by Valve based on the Wine project, integrating DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, and the Steam Linux Runtime container environment.
65%UnverifiedBottles is a graphical frontend for Wine that manages the dependencies and configurations of different applications by creating isolated "bottle" environments, simplifying the process of installing Windows applications on Linux.
50%UnverifiedPatches for the porting work have been submitted but have not yet been merged into the official ports tree.
50%UnverifiedPorting Wine to OpenBSD requires resolving conflicts between OpenBSD-specific security mechanisms (such as W^X and pledge/unveil) and the runtime requirements of Wine.
50%UnverifiedThis port is not officially supported but rather community-driven experimental work.
50%UnverifiedOpenBSD lacks a mature Linux compatibility layer, which makes porting Wine depend more on user-space adaptation than kernel support, and this is one source of the technical difficulty of the work.
50%UnverifiedProjects such as Wine and Samba each required more than a decade of community collaboration to reach production-ready maturity.
50%UnverifiedProton, developed by Valve on top of Wine, integrates components such as DXVK (a DirectX-to-Vulkan translation layer) and forms the core technical foundation of the Steam Deck.
50%UnverifiedWine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) was born in 1993 and is a compatibility layer that reimplements Windows API calls as POSIX-compliant calls, rather than a virtual machine or emulator.
50%UnverifiedRe-implementation has precedent in the open-source community, such as Wine's re-implementation of the Windows API and Mesa's open-source implementation of OpenGL/Vulkan drivers; legally, re-implementation itself is generally considered lawful as long as no copyrighted code or binary weights are directly copied.
50%UnverifiedWine runs Windows programs by translating Windows API calls into native calls for systems such as macOS/Linux; it is essentially not an emulator but an API mapping layer.
50%UnverifiedRunning Windows games on a Mac in the past typically required relying on CrossOver, Wine, or Game Porting Toolkit, with a high configuration barrier and inconsistent stability.
50%UnverifiedCrossOver is a commercial product developed by CodeWeavers on top of Wine, with an annual fee of approximately $18–$30.
50%UnverifiedKernel-level anti-cheat programs run at the lowest layer of the operating system with the highest privileges, conflicting with Linux's security model, and Wine and Proton cannot provide the privileged access they require.
50%UnverifiedWine is a user-space compatibility layer solution that reimplements the Windows API in user space without involving any modifications to the Linux kernel.
50%UnverifiedReactOS's user-mode components (such as user32.dll, kernel32.dll, and gdi32.dll) heavily reuse code from the Wine project.
50%UnverifiedReactOS's binary compatibility goal is more ambitious than the Wine project, because it also needs to implement a complete NT kernel interface and a Windows-compatible driver model (WDM/KMDF).
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