Fedora Remix for WSL: a Fedora derivative for Windows 10 and Server

A Fedora derivative, built by the Pengwin team

Fedora Remix for WSL is a remix of upstream Fedora software for the Windows Subsystem for Linux on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Server. The code in the repository is C++, and the licence is a custom one that GitHub cannot classify, recorded in a LICENSE.md file.

The project comes from Whitewater Foundry, the open source startup that created Pengwin, formerly known as WLinux, which the README describes as the first Linux distribution designed for WSL on Windows 10. The Remix is powered by Pengwin Enterprise, so the lineage is the same company's distribution tooling pointed at Fedora rather than at RHEL.

Two disclaimers are stated up front and both matter. Fedora Remix for WSL is not endorsed by the Fedora Project or by Red Hat, and it is provided under the Fedora Remix program, which allows individuals, groups and companies to make Fedora derivatives for particular purposes, possibly containing modified or non-Fedora software. Other remixes named as examples of the model are the Russian Fedora Remix, FedBerry and Qubes OS.

The audience is a developer on Windows who wants a Fedora environment inside WSL. That is a real need, and the README gives the reason the company filled it: with no official Fedora for WSL coming, they invested the time and resources to make a Fedora Remix available as an alternative.

What was removed from the base image

The section listing differences from upstream Fedora is the most useful part of the documentation, because it tells you exactly what you are and are not getting.

The base is the @core package group from Fedora, the minimal core group, rather than a standard workstation or server install. On top of that, a list of packages has been removed from the default install: grub, plymouth, kernel, sssd, linux-firmware, dracut, parted, e2fsprogs, iprutils, ppc64-utils, selinux-policy, policycoreutils, sendmail, firewalld, fedora-release, fedora-logos and fedora-release-notes.

Most of those removals are obvious in hindsight for a container-like environment. A bootloader and a kernel package make no sense inside WSL, which supplies its own kernel. initramfs tooling has nothing to install into. A partitioner and filesystem tools are not what a WSL user manipulates. Security policy machinery and a mail transfer agent are a decision about threat model and scope rather than a technical necessity.

Two details are less obvious. The non-default package generic-release has been added to the default install, and the reason given is compliance with the Fedora Remix program's terms. And three configuration files carry custom settings for the WSL environment: /etc/wsl.conf, /etc/local.conf and /etc/profile. Three more paths are removed and automatically regenerated if needed: /etc/resolv.conf, /boot and /var/cache/dnf/*.

The resolv.conf case is the one to understand. WSL manages name resolution itself, and a Fedora image that wrote its own would fight it, so the file is removed and the environment recreates it as required.

Two ways to get it, one of them paid

The distribution is distributed through two channels, and the difference between them is the money and the terms.

The first is the Microsoft Store. The README embeds a link to the store listing for Fedora Remix for WSL, and the About section lists the store entry for it alongside Pengwin and Pengwin Enterprise. The second is GitHub: the README states that, unlike Pengwin and Pengwin Enterprise, signed downloads of Fedora Remix for WSL are available through the repository's releases and can be side-loaded for free.

The business model is explained plainly in the Isn't Fedora free section. Fedora itself is free and the authors say so, and they point people to the unmodified distribution for a Linux workstation. The Remix exists because of a demand for a Fedora distro for WSL, and the company charges for the official download through the Microsoft Store, with the stated reasons being to continue optimising, building and packaging the Remix, paying open-source developers, and building a sustainable open-source venture.

So the practical choice is between paying for a store install that funds the project, or side-loading a signed build yourself. Both give you the same distribution, and the README is candid that the Remix is not Fedora, so anybody comparing it with the upstream project should keep that distinction in mind.

The repository is the packaging pipeline, not the packages

The repository layout explains what kind of artefact this is.

There is a Visual Studio solution, Fedora-Remix-for-WSL.sln, and several project directories beside it: Fedora-Remix-for-WSL for the main build, Fedora-Remix-for-WSL-SL which appears to be a variant, and then FedoraRemixS, FedoraRemixSW, FedoraRemixW and FedoraRemixWSLUI, which look like separate components, plus a DistroLauncher directory and an appMetadata directory for the store submission. A build.bat sits at the top level for the Windows build, and BUILDING.md is the build documentation.

Continuous integration is in Azure Pipelines, with two pipeline definitions, azure-pipelines.yml and azure-pipelines-sl.yml, which is what you would expect for a project that has to produce signed Windows installers and a store package. There is also a .gitmodules file, so some of the build pulls in external repositories.

The other top level entries are the process documents: a CHANGELOG.md, a CODEOFCONDUCT.md, a PRIVACY.md, a docs directory and a licenses directory holding the licence texts for the components shipped in the image.

The point of the layout is that this repository builds a Windows distribution, complete with a launcher, a user interface component and store metadata, rather than containing Fedora packages themselves. The packages come from the Fedora infrastructure at build time.

Support is community, and the README says who to ask instead

The support story is stated with unusual clarity, which is worth reading in full before you rely on this for work.

Fedora Remix for WSL is provided on a community-support basis, and there is no support available from the Fedora community other than what is offered to all users. The troubleshooting path is a list of three things: Microsoft's own basic WSL troubleshooting documentation, which the README says will solve many problems; searching the main WSL issues page on GitHub; and opening an issue on the project's own GitHub page for community support.

Whitewater Foundry developers monitor that issues page, and the README is explicit that the monitoring is not the same as a support contract. Users who require dedicated end-user support for WSL are pointed at Pengwin, and businesses and other organisations that want ongoing professional support are told to email the company or look at Pengwin Enterprise on the company's website.

That division of labour is coherent. The Remix is the free tier, the store download funds the work, and the commercial product is where the support commitment lives. Whitewater Foundry's position is that it has joined the Red Hat Business Partners programme to offer a customisable, secure and reliable WSL solution for large organisations powered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is the enterprise path built on a different distribution.

What it is not, and where it stops being the right answer

The limits of the project are visible in the documentation, and there are three that matter.

The first is scope. It is a Fedora distribution for WSL on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Server. It is not a general Linux desktop, it does not run outside WSL, and it is not the Fedora project, so anything the Fedora Project supports directly is supported here only on a community basis.

The second is the relationship to Pengwin. The README states that Fedora Remix for WSL does not include pengwin-setup or other features of Pengwin. So the two distributions from the same company are not interchangeable, and a team that wants the setup tooling and the WSL integration features should be looking at Pengwin rather than this.

The third is the licence, which is a custom one that GitHub's classifier cannot categorise, recorded in LICENSE.md with a separate licenses directory for the components inside the image. The Fedora Remix program permits derivatives, and the naming and branding rules of that program impose obligations on how the artefact is presented. For anyone planning to redistribute it inside an organisation, that is the question to resolve first, and the README is not the place to answer it.

And the practical alternative is plain Fedora in a container or a virtual machine, which gives you the unmodified distribution, the official support channels and no licensing question, at the cost of a container runtime or a hypervisor. What the Remix buys is a native WSL experience with dnf and the Fedora package set, which a container gives you less comfortably.

Editorial conclusion

Fedora Remix for WSL fits a developer on Windows who wants a genuine Fedora userland with dnf and the Fedora package set inside WSL, and who is comfortable with community-only support and with a distribution that is a derivative rather than Fedora itself. It is the wrong choice for a team that needs a supported platform, because the README states the support basis is community and directs anyone needing dedicated support to Pengwin Enterprise. Verify first which channel you will use, since the Microsoft Store build is paid and the signed GitHub download is free to side-load, and read LICENSE.md before redistributing anything, because the licence is a custom one that GitHub cannot classify.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. README
3. Releases
4. WhitewaterFoundry/Fedora-Remix-for-WSL on GitHub