I'm moving to a Mac, so I made myself a WSL for it

说明与用途

MSL 在 macOS 上提供类似 WSL 的体验，快速访问 Linux shell、文件共享和实验性 GUI 支持，但仅支持 Apple Silicon 和 macOS 14+。

问题

The author needed a Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)‑like experience on a Mac after planning to switch from a Surface Laptop 3 to a MacBook Air.

结果

MSL provides a WSL‑like experience on macOS, offering fast Linux shell access, file sharing, and experimental GUI integration, while requiring Apple Silicon and macOS 14+.

工作流

• Install MSL from the .pkg release or build from source.
• Run msl <instance> to list available distros.
• Run msl install <distro> to download and configure a distro.
• Start an instance with msl <distro>; the shell opens automatically.
• Use msl <distro> in scripts or SSH via the auto‑generated ssh msl-<name> address.
• Access macOS files inside Linux at /mnt/mac and Linux files from macOS via MSL Files.
• Optionally enable experimental GUI apps with mslgd or use the sandbox for isolation.

证据

I made it for one single reason. My Surface Laptop 3 is starting to show its age, and I'm planning to move to a MacBook Air in a few months. The one thing I really didn't want to give up was WSL.

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Open any terminal on your Mac and type msl <instance>. You get a Linux shell right there, with no clunky VM window. From fully powered off it takes about 6 seconds, and once the instance is running it's basically instant.

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Under the hood, every instance is a lightweight VM on Apple's Virtualization framework, the same idea as WSL 2.

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There are twelve distros ready to download, from Alpine to Nix. Every download is checked against its published checksum before it's used.

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MSL Files browsing an Ubuntu root filesystem, showing real Unix permissions and symlinks, right under your Mac folders.

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mslgd is an X server that draws Linux windows as real Mac windows (NSWindow)s.

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Apple silicon only, on macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

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