Wslc: A native Linux container runtime for Windows
9 hours ago
- #windows-linux-integration
- #development-tools
- #container-runtime
- wslc is a native Linux container runtime for Windows, built directly into WSL, enabling OCI-compatible Linux containers with a Docker-compatible CLI.
- It operates via a dedicated Hyper-V VM separate from WSL 2 distros, communicating over Hyper-V sockets, with features like GPU passthrough via CDI and support for Windows folder bind mounts using Plan 9 or virtiofs.
- Includes a plugin API for Windows applications to interact with containers through lifecycle hooks (e.g., ContainerStarted, ContainerStopping) and API calls for mounting folders, spawning processes, and handling I/O via Windows handles.
- Offers an SDK with public C API, WinRT projection, and C# bindings for programmatic container management, targeting use cases like dev dependencies, GPU-accelerated ML, IDE integration, and enterprise deployments with policy controls.
- Currently under active development in the microsoft/WSL repository, with recent enhancements to CLI features, I/O channels, and performance optimizations, while maintaining compatibility with Docker Desktop and Podman.