[Info-vax] openvms and xterm

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 4/24/2024 6:15 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> On Wed, 24 Apr 2024 21:52:36 +1200, David Goodwin wrote:
>> The difference here is that Windows NT isn't limited to a single
>> userspace API/personality, historically it provided three (Win32, OS/2
>> and POSIX) in addition to its own Native API.
> 
> That’s the theory. In practice, it doesn’t seem to have worked very well.
> The POSIX “personality” for example, was essentially unusable.

My impression is that it worked fine.

But that customers were not interested.

Similar to VMS Posix kit.

> When the Windows engineers were working on WSL1, emulating Linux kernel
> APIs on Windows, you would think they would have used this “personality”
> system. But they did not.

Lowest common denonimator for Unix API's from the early 1990's was
probably not interesting.

>                           I suspect it had already bitrotted into
> nonfunctionality by that point.

Not keeping uptodate with evolution for 25 years.

> In the end, they had to give up, and bring in an honest-to-goodness Linux
> kernel, in WSL2.

Developers wanted the real thing.

Posix approach
--------------

If:

   source--compiler--special executables--Posix API lib--Posix 
subsystem--Windows

works then hope that:

   source--standard Linux compiler--Linux executables--standard Linux 
lib--standard Linux kernel

also works.

WSL1 approach
-------------

If:

   source--Linux compiler--Linux executables--standard Linux lib--Linux 
kernel emulation--Windows

works then hope that:

   --Linux executables--standard Linux lib--standard Linux kernel

also works.

WSL1 approach
-------------

If:

   source--Linux compiler--Linux executables--standard Linux lib--Linux 
kernel--VM--Windows

works then know that:

   --Linux executables--standard Linux lib--standard Linux kernel

also works.

Arne