Unix subsystem for Windows NT operating systems
Interix was an optional[citation needed ,POSIX -conformant[citation needed Unix subsystem forWindows NT operating systems . Interix was a component ofWindows Services for UNIX , and a superset of theMicrosoft POSIX subsystem . Like the POSIX subsystem, Interix was anenvironment subsystem for theNT kernel . It included numerousopen source utility software programs andlibraries . Interix was originally developed and sold asOpenNT until purchased by Microsoft in 1999.
Interix versions 5.2 and 6.0 were respective components ofMicrosoft Windows Server 2003 R2 ,Windows Vista Enterprise ,Windows Vista Ultimate , andWindows Server 2008 asSubsystem for Unix-based Applications [ 1] SUA [ 2] Windows 7 (Enterprise and Ultimate editions) but disabled by default,[ 3] Windows Server 2008 R2 (all editions).[ 4] [ 5] Windows 8 andWindows Server 2012 , and is not available at all onWindows 10 .
The complete installation of Interix included (at version 3.5):
Over 350Unix utilities such asvi ,ksh ,csh ,ls ,cat ,awk ,grep ,kill , etc. A complete set ofmanual pages for utilities and APIs GCC 3.3 compiler,includes andlibraries A cc/c89-like wrapper forMicrosoft Visual Studio command-line C/C++ compiler GNU Debugger X11 client applications and libraries (no X server included, though third party servers were available)Has Unix "root " capabilities (i.e.setuid files) Haspthreads ,shared libraries ,DSOs ,job control ,signals ,sockets ,shared memory The development environment included support forC ,C++ andFortran . Threading was supported using the Pthreads model.Additional languages could be obtained (Python ,Ruby ,Tcl , etc.). Unix-based software packaging and build tools were available for installing or creating pre-build software packages.
Starting with release 5.2 (Server 2003/R2) the following capabilities were added:[ 6]
"Mixed mode" for linking Unix programs with Windows DLLs 64-bit CPU support (in addition to 32-bit)Large file system support on 64-bit systems System V R4 utilities can be optionally installed instead of the defaultBSD -based utilitiesMSVC debugging plug-inDatabase (OCI/ODBC ) library connectivity With release 6.0 (Vista and Server 2008) the following new features were added:
IPv6 support for socket APIs and daemonsUpdates to utilities for additional functionality MSVC debugging plug-in enhanced Interix release 6.0 forVista was only available with theUltimate andEnterprise editions.
Interix release 6.1 was available forWindows Server 2008 R2 andWindows 7 for the Enterprise and Ultimate editions.
Traditional support was provided by Microsoft for a fee or service contract, though released hotfixes can usually be obtained free of charge from Microsoft. Previously, free support could be found via the forums at the SUA Community site[ 7] [ 8]
Additional pre-built applications and development libraries could be obtained for free from theSUA Community [usurped] Gentoo-prefix site and theDebian-Interix [usurped] OpenSSH ,Git ,Python andbash .
TheSUA Community site included for developers of Interix and the site has been contracted by Microsoft for severalInterix andSUA updates of utilities and documentation.
This product began to be developed in 1996 under the product nameOpenNT by Softway Systems, Inc. before the name was changed to Interix in 1998. The last release by Softway Systems was release 2.2. Softway Systems had virtually completed the next release code-named Firebrand in 1999 which became the basis of Interix 3.0.
The Interix interoperability suite developed by Softway Systems Inc., included substantial code fromOpenBSD ,.[ 9] [ 10] [ 11] [ 12]
Microsoft continued to distribute Interix 2.2 as a standalone product until 2002.
Interix release 3.0 was released as component ofWindows Services for Unix (SFU) 3.0 in 2002. Interix release 3.5 was released as component of SFU 3.5 in January, 2004.
Interix became integrated as a component of the regular Windows OS distribution[ 6] Windows Server 2003 R2 in December, 2005 at release 5.2 and was a component of theWindows Vista release as release 6.0 (RTM November, 2006).Windows Server 2008 had release 6.0.Windows 7 andWindows Server 2008 R2 included SUA 6.1.
Microsoft announced in 2011 that Interix would not be included in Windows versions after Windows 8 and customers should start migrating their applications to an alternative solution.[ 13]
OpenNT Commands & Utilities, Release 1.0 (1.0) 1996-03-29 OpenNT Commands & Utilities, Release 1.0 for WinNT POSIX Subsystem 1996-07 X11R6 Server (Win32) 1996-08 telnetd (and inetd) OpenNT 1.1 and SDK (1.1) 1996-09 OpenNT 1.1 and SDK for WinNT i386, alpha OpenNT 2.0 (2.0) 1997-05 OpenNT 2.0 (Apache httpd and xv) for WinNT i386, alpha 1997-08-12 "OpenNT: UNIX Application Portability to Windows NT via an Alternative Environment Subsystem" Usenix paper[ 14] 1997-08-12 "OpenNT: UNIX Application Portability to Windows NT" Usenix presentation[ 15] 1997-11 "inetd and telnetd on Windows NT with OpenNT" OpenNT 2.1 (2.1) 1997-12 OpenNT 2.1 for WinNT i386, alpha 1998-01 OpenNT 2.1 1998-02 "Technical Note #9: inetd and the Daemon Package" 1998-spring paper update 1998-06 Interix 2.1 rebranding Interix 2.2 (2.2) 1998-06 Interix 2.2(.0)? 1999-02 SFU 1.0 en for WinNT 4.0(SP3+) i386, alpha (does not contain Interix; included for historical purposes with MS acquisition) 1999-09-17 Acquired by Microsoft 1999-12 Interix 2.2(.0) for WinNT 3.51(SP5+),4.0(SP3+),5.0 Interix 2.2 Service Pack 1 (2.2.4) Interix 2.2.5 (2.2.5) 2000-02 Interix 2.2.5 for WinNT 4.0(SP5+),5.0 2000-04 SFU 2.0 en for WinNT 4.0(SP4+),5.0 i386 (does not contain Interix; included for historical purposes with MS acquisition) 2000-06 SFU 2.0 ja for WinNT 4.0(SP4+),5.0 i386 (does not contain Interix; included for historical purposes with MS acquisition) 2001-06-30 "Strangely Enough It All Turns Out Well" Usenix talk[ 16] Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX 3.0 (3.0) 2002-05 SFU 3.0 en for WinNT 4.0(SP6a+),5.0,5.1 i386Interix 3.0 (AKA Firebrand) 2002-10 SFU 3.0 ja for WinNT 4.0(SP6a+),5.0,5.1 i386 Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX 3.5 (3.5) 2004-01 SFU 3.5 en, ja for WinNT 5.0,5.1,5.2 i386 Windows Server 2003 R2 (all editions) Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (5.2) 2005-12-06 WinNT 5.2 R2 Windows Vista (Ultimate and Enterprise editions) Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (6.0) 2006-11-08 WinNT 6.0 (2007-01-30) Windows Server 2008 (all editions) Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (6.0) 2008-02-04 WinNT 6.0 Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications in Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (6.1) 2010-03-11 WinNT 6.1 ^ "Windows Server 2003 R2 UNIX Interoperability Components" .Microsoft the original on 2008-01-15.^ "Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications" . Archived fromthe original on 2006-03-23. Retrieved2006-01-31 .^ "LBW: Installing Interix" . Lbw.sourceforge.net. Archived fromthe original on 2015-04-11. Retrieved2014-03-31 .^ "Utilities and SDK for Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications in Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2" .Microsoft the original on 2010-10-12.^ "Features Removed or Deprecated in Windows Server 2012" . 31 August 2016.^a b "Windows 2003 R2 + Interix" . Archived fromthe original on 2006-10-24. Retrieved2006-10-15 .^ "SUA Community hosted by Interop Systems" . Archived from the original on 2008-08-17.^ "FAQs" .SUA Community . Archived from the original on 2008-09-18.^ Dohnert, Roberto J. (2004-01-21),"Review of Windows Services for UNIX 3.5" ,OSNews David Adams ,archived from the original on 2008-02-11, retrieved2020-07-19 ^ Reiter, Brian (2010-01-26)."WONTFIX: select(2) in SUA 5.2 ignores timeout" . brianreiter.org. ^ "Microsoft Acquires Softway Systems To Strengthen Future Customer Interoperability Solutions" ,Microsoft News Center ,Microsoft , 1999-09-17^ "Milltech Consulting Inc" . 2019. Archived fromthe original on 2020-09-18. Retrieved2020-06-23 .^ "Installing SUA components on Windows 8" . 28 August 2023.^ Walli, Stephen R. (August 12, 1997).OPENNT: UNIX Application Portability to Windows NT via an Alternative Environment Subsystem . Retrieved2022-05-20 . ^ Walli, Stephen R. (August 12, 1997).OPENNT: UNIX Application Portability to Windows NT . Retrieved2022-05-20 . ^ Walli, Stephen R. (June 30, 2001).Strangely Enough, It All Turns Out Well (PDF) . USENIX Technical Conference, 2001. Retrieved2022-05-20 .
