Modern Subsystem for Linux

MSL runs Linux distributions on Apple silicon Macs with WSL-compatible commands and distribution images.

Requires macOS 27 or later.

Install

$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/onexay/msl/main/install.sh | sh

Install Ubuntu and open a shell:

$ msl --install Ubuntu
$ msl

Documentation

Read the MSL documentation for installation options, commands, VS Code setup, configuration and troubleshooting.

MSL keeps the shared Linux clock aligned with macOS at VM startup, after host wake and when the host clock changes.

For development, see Contributing and the architecture notes.

License

MSL is independent of Microsoft and Apple. It is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See NOTICE and third-party notices.