A new branch of the Hangover project has been released, allowing the execution of 32-bit Windows applications built for x86 (i386) and ARM32 architectures in environments based on ARM64 (Aarch64) architecture. Development is underway for a Hangover variant for the RISC-V architecture. The release is based on the Wine 9.0 code base, as reflected in the version number. The project's developments are distributed under the LGPL-2.1 license.
The project enables significantly higher performance compared to running Wine entirely in emulation mode, as Hangover uses the emulator only for executing the application code, while all system calls, libraries, and Wine components are executed natively for the current platform (Hangover breaks the emulation chain at the win32 call and wine level). The emulation layer can utilize QEMU, FEX, and Box64 emulators, depending on user preference. Work has started but is not yet complete on supporting the Blink emulator.
Changes in version 9.0 include:
- Support for using QEMU alongside the WoW64 (64-bit Windows-on-Windows) layer available in Wine, allowing 32-bit Windows applications to run in 64-bit Unix systems. Support for x86_32 and ARM32 architectures has been ensured.
- Support for using the FEX emulator in PE format and in Unix builds has been added. Future plans include discontinuing the use of FEX Unix builds in favor of PE format builds.
- Full integration with the Box64 emulator has been provided.
- Ready deb packages have been assembled for Debian 11 and 12. Future plans include establishing package publication for Ubuntu and Alpine Linux.
- Work has started to enable the execution of Windows applications in environments based on RISC-V architecture.
- Efforts are underway to restore support for x86_64 architecture emulation for running 64-bit Windows applications (in branch 0.8, only i386 support was retained due to the unavailability of ARM64EC in Wine).
Additionally, it is worth noting the release of the Wine Staging 9.0 project, which provides enhanced Wine builds including partially complete or experimental patches that are not yet suitable for inclusion in the main Wine branch. Compared to Wine, Wine Staging offers 505 additional patches. The new Wine Staging release is synchronized with the Wine 9.0 codebase and updates the vkd3d-latest patch.
Source: opennet.ru
