An experimental Wine port for OpenBSD has been proposed, overcoming major technical hurdles with the %gs segment register via a software workaround.
Early testing shows dozens of 64-bit Windows apps and games running, though 32-bit WoW64 support is currently absent.
The biggest technical hurdle the developers faced was related to an internal memory management rule. They eventually managed to overcome it by using a clever workaround in the code.
What can run so far?
Initial tests show that the experimental version can run dozens of 64-bit programs and games. Among them is The Witcher 3, which ran successfully when the appropriate graphics tool was additionally installed. In fact, the team recorded video from the game directly using a well-known screen capture tool.
However, the project still has significant limitations. Compatibility for older 32-bit Windows programs is currently not working, while the built-in software testing system is disabled.
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Instructions and next steps
For those who want to try out the experimental version, Frohwein suggests starting with the 64-bit version of a well-known word processor. He also recommends running the software under a separate user account that doesn't have elevated privileges for security reasons.
The new effort has not yet been officially accepted into the OpenBSD application collection.
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