And it is an emulator these days. Their own website says it and it’s obviously one just thinking about it for a second. The reason it started with that acronym was because originally you could take Windows source code, compile it against winelib and run it natively. It is an emulator when actual Windows binaries are executed against it.
Comment on Linux vs Windows tested in 10 games - Linux 17% faster on Average
dbilitated@aussie.zone 1 year agobut the E literally stands for emulator
(I’m kidding)
arc@lemm.ee 1 year ago
raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It is an emulator when actual Windows binaries are executed against it.
I suppose I am not sure entirely what constitutes an emulator and what doesn’t, but I always thought an emulator mimics (emulates) a certain systems architecture, i.e. has to be slower by design than the real thing. In wine, however, windows system calls are replaced / re-routed to the underlying linux system calls which are often much faster, which is why wine often exceeds windows in performance executing windows binaries (assuming you can get them to run at all :)
arc@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I suppose I am not sure entirely what constitutes an emulator and what doesn’t, but I always thought an emulator mimics (emulates) a certain systems architecture, i.e. has to be slower by design than the real thing. In wine, however, windows system calls are replaced / re-routed to the underlying linux system calls which are often much faster, which is why wine often exceeds windows in performance executing windows binaries (assuming you can get them to run at all :)
WINE has a FAQ on the matter - wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#Is_Wine_an_emulator.3F_There_…
Short story, it depends what you use WINE from and the perspective you’re looking from. I think from a binary’s POV that thinks it is calling Windows OS it is emulation.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
Just in case someone sees this and doesn’t understand all this, WINE is an acronym that literally means “WINE Is Not an Emulator.”