Developer of the open source Wine project have been making it possible to run some Windows applications on GNU/Linux and Mac computers for more than two decades.

Now the team is getting ready to launch WINE 3.0. Among other things, the next major release will update the default version from Windows XP to Windows 7, bring support for Direct3D 11 and include initial support for Android.

The current plan is to release WINE 3.0 around the end of the year (or in early 2018.

The next steps are to work on OpenGL graphics improvements and packaging the Android driver with all the additional software libraries it depends upon to make it easier to get Wine up and running on Android devices before the end of the year.

Android support has been in the works for a while. Last year CodeWeavers released as version of its CrossOver software with support for running some Windows programs on Android or Chrome OS devices.

CrossOver is a commercial utility that’s closely tied to the Wine project, and CodeWeavers contributes to the open source project, so there were always plans to bring CrossOver’s Android support to Wine.

The only catch is that CrossOver for Android currently only works on devices with Intel chips… and most Android devices have ARM-based processors. The exception? Chromebooks.

Most laptops running Google’s Chrome operating system have Intel processors. And many models released in the last few years also have an Android subsystem that allows you to run Android apps within Chrome OS… and that includes CrossOver.

Soon it may include Wine as well.

Once Wine 3.0 is released, the plan is to begin work on new components including support for Direct3D 12 and Vulkan graphics and a driver for the Wayland windows manager.

via Phoronix

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6 replies on “Wine 3.0 could bring Windows app support to Android by end of 2017 (sort of)”

  1. I tried using Wine the other day. It was only compatible with older XP software. Windows 7 software wouldn’t run on it. Also, lawyers are battling to prevent x86 emulation on Android. Get ready for another legal battle in the Smartphone wars.

  3. I used to love Wine… but now I know you’d have to be drunk to use it.
    Just get the correct device from the start. Dual boot if you have to.

    1. If you haven’t used wine recently maybe you should try again. Especially using something like lutris to install prefixes is a pretty painless experience nowadays. The few things I have tried (Warframe, league of legends, and WoW) all work basically on par with windows native. And if you are using lutris it is one click and the installer does everything for you.

      1. Well, its been ages. Alright, I’ll give it a go.

        (do note however, I’ve gotten used to multi-booting: Windows 10, OS X, and Android from a HTPC)

        1. I tried dual booting my OS and Android x86, but none of the flavors except stock ever worked, simply because nobody ever takes AMD processors into account.

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