$ UNIXWIN

WinuxCmd: native Unix commands for Windows

One native Win32 executable that speaks GNU syntax and walks real Windows paths: 176 commands, 1,924 options, a single 3.79 MB file. No WSL, no Cygwin, no MSYS2, no path-translation pain — it is the command half of the niubash workflow: the shell provides the language, WinuxCmd provides the commands.

C++23 Windows x64 · ARM64 v1.1.20 MIT

github.com/unixwin/WinuxCmd ↗ 274 stars (repo-meta.json, measured 2026-10-19)

Why WinuxCmd

Typing grep -rn, sed -i, find -exec, xargs -0 on Windows used to mean choosing a compromise. WinuxCmd's stance is to skip the compromise: it does not emulate Unix — it implements GNU's invocation surface on Win32.

中文原文 · Chinese original（4 张对照卡全文）
  • 不是虚拟机（vs WSL）——WSL 给你 1 GB+ 安装与一道 VM 文件系统边界；WinuxCmd 是一个原生 Win32 可执行文件，直接操作你的真实文件。
  • 不是模拟层（vs Cygwin）——Cygwin 要你做路径翻译体操、付 2–5 秒启动；WinuxCmd 理解 C:\ 与 UNC 原生形态，冷启动约 19 ms，无运行时 DLL。
  • 不是 2012 年的遗物（vs GnuWin32）——GnuWin32 停止维护于 2012 年、兼容度停在 60%；WinuxCmd 的差分语料 178 例对 GNU coreutils 9.7 oracle 实测 93% 通过。
  • 不止 ~100 命令（vs uutils）——同为原生命令集的 uutils 覆盖约 100 命令 / ~600 选项；WinuxCmd 携带 176 命令 / 1,924 选项，单文件 3.79 MB。

Core features

Native rather than emulated (Win32 APIs, C:\ and UNC paths, NTFS ACLs); the critical GNU bits delivered (find with 88 options, grep with 49 incl. PCRE2, in-place sed -i); dual-dialect paths; i18n message catalogues; zero-glue niubash integration; PGO release builds. Full eight-point list (Chinese):

中文原文 · Chinese original（八条特性全文）
  • 原生而非模拟——直接调用 Win32 API：理解 C:\、D:/、UNC 路径与 NTFS ACL（配 cygpath / getfacl 桥接），无 VM、无运行时 DLL、即时启动。
  • GNU 关键位全给——find 一个命令实现 88 个选项（完整表达式解析器、-exec/-execdir/-ok/-printf）；grep 49 选项含 PCRE2；sed 支持就地 -i 编辑。
  • 176 命令 / 1,924 选项——Coreutils 83 + findutils/grep/sed + BSD 工具 15 + 进程管理 13 + Cygwin/MSYS 桥 14 + 系统信息 16 + 自有扩展 10+。
  • wpm 内建——不该重造的工具（jq、ripgrep、fd、fzf、bat、make、neovim、curl、wget…）用内建包管理器一键装真发行版。
  • 双方言路径——POSIX 写法（/d/repo、/cygdrive/d、/mnt/d）与 Windows 原生写法（D:\repo）全部接受且真实折叠。
  • 中文输出（i18n）——消息目录经 wpm 安装（winuxcmd-i18n-zh-cn），WINUX_LANG 优先、回落 LC_ALL/LC_MESSAGES/LANG。
  • 与 niubash 零胶水——niubash 启动时把 WinuxCmd 的命令链接注入 PATH——shell 里敲的 grep/sed/find 就是这枚二进制。
  • PGO 发布档——公开 x64 二进制按真实负载做 Profile-Guided Optimization 训练：sort −18%、nl −17%。

Install & quick start

The niubash Windows installer ships a complete WinuxCmd root (preinstalled) — installed under {app}\winuxcmd\ with PATH pointing at winuxcmd\bin; installing niubash gives you all 176 commands and built-in wpm. Standalone installs are for users without niubash: grab the installer from GitHub Releases (WinuxCmd-<version>-x64-setup.exe, plus ARM64 and a portable zip); an existing installation self-updates via the built-in wpm — all three roads land on the same winuxcmd.exe.

Already have WinuxCmd? Update it with wpm (built into the binary itself):

wpm update winuxcmd

First-run orientation

# Open a fresh terminal (so PATH takes effect), then:
winuxcmd --version          # confirm the active binary and version
ls --help                   # the GNU help surface of any command
winuxcmd --list-all         # flat list of all 176 commands (bare winuxcmd groups coreutils-style)
wpm index update            # refresh the package index (wpm is built in; see /en/products/wpm/)

Chinese output: install the message catalogue and declare the language (wpm install winuxcmd-i18n-zh-cn, then export WINUX_LANG=zh-CN; without a catalogue, non-English locales get a one-line hint, #1155). Building from source needs VS 2022 + CMake 3.30 + Ninja, entry scripts/build-with-vs.ps1; reproduce PGO with scripts/build-pgo.ps1.

Deep dive: command coverage and categories

The 176 commands are grouped coreutils-style (bare winuxcmd prints the grouped list; --list-all prints it flat); the 1,924-option total counts OPTION( macros under src/commands/, excluding the built-in wpm and the [ alias.

CategoryCountRepresentative commands
GNU Coreutils 83 cp mv rm ln mkdir touch · cat head tail sort uniq cut tr wc · ls dir vdir · base64 md5sum sha256sum cksum · date seq expr env …
findutils / grep / sed 3 find (88 options), grep (49 options, PCRE2), sed (17 options, in-place -i)
BSD tools 15 cal column hexdump logger tree less more strings rev watch tput …
Process management 13 ps top kill killall pgrep pkill pidof pldd free uptime renice stdbuf timeout
Cygwin / MSYS2 bridge 14 cygpath dos2unix unix2dos d2u u2d … (migration-era spelling compatibility)
System information 16 hostname id who pinky stty locale getconf getfacl ldd lsof file man …
First-party extensions 10+ wpm (package manager) mpicalc regtool mkpasswd mkgroup mkfifo mknod clear reset tzset

Source: the WinuxCmd README "Command coverage" (expandable full table) and DOCS/en/command_compatibility_matrix.md (per-command status for all 176).

中文原文 · Chinese original（差分测试 / i18n / PATH 注入 / 路径方言 四节全文）

差分测试：93% 是怎么来的——178 例差分语料（131 语料 + 47 回归，覆盖 84 个命令）以相同输入对 GNU coreutils 9.7、findutils 4.10.0、grep 3.12、sed 4.9、patch 2.7.6、util-linux 2.41、procps-ng 4.0.4 逐字节比对——165 例通过、13 例为实名在册的平台差异（93%），机器校验落在 tests/differential/baseline.json。13 例不是雾里的「有时不一样」：id -g 打印主组 RID、跨 \wsl.localhost 9p 的硬链、mkdir 报错引号形态。CI 里每个 PR 都对 GNU master 跑同一差分。

i18n 与 WINUX_LANG——语言选择器优先级：WINUX_LANG → LC_ALL → LC_MESSAGES → LANG（src/utils/i18n.cppm，#1155）；消息目录定位在安装根；WINUX_LANG=off 整体关闭。

与 niubash 的 PATH 注入联动——niu 启动时把 WinuxCmd 的命令链接注入 PATH；捆绑的 WinuxCmd coreutils「拥有 shell 树」（niubash#346 的 Windows 路径契约）——原样接收 shell 的 POSIX 写法并在子进程内自行解析，其余子进程一律收到原生 Windows 路径。

路径方言能力链——/d/repo（MSYS 单字母形）、/cygdrive/d（Cygwin 形，#1145）、/mnt/d（WSL 形按 interop 折叠，#1172）。方言 × 层的全量实测矩阵见 路径与 MSYS。

Measured numbers

MetricValueSource
Single-file size 3.79 MB (carrying 176 commands / 1,924 options; statically linked, zero dependencies) WinuxCmd README.md:74
Cold start ~19 ms WinuxCmd README.md:74
PGO gains sort −18% · nl −17% (x64 release builds, trained on real workloads) WinuxCmd README.md:74 · scripts/build-pgo.ps1
Quality gates 178-case differential 93% (165 pass / 13 platform deltas named on record) · 2,420 unit tests 99.6% README.md · tests/differential/baseline.json
Workload contrasts cat 100 MB 0.8 s · sort 1M lines 2.1 s · grep 100 MB 1.2 s · find 10K files 0.3 s (~10–15% behind GNU/WSL2) README.md Benchmarks (Win11 · i7-13700K · 32 GB · NVMe)

More figures (git startup ~14 ms, one-shot execution 26.3 ms and other niubash-family numbers) on the benchmarks page.

Release feed

Latest 3 versions (changelogs.json, fetched 2026-10-19; the full feed lives on the changelog):

  • Unreleased (release line, no date stamped) WSL interop paths: /mnt/X/… operands fold in the same shape as /X/… and X:\… (#1172, byte-aligned with rubash's windows_mnt_drive_argument); latest release tag is v1.1.15 (repo-meta.json, measured 2026-10-19; Releases ship x64/ARM64 setup.exe plus a portable zip).
  • v1.1.14 (2026-10-17) wpm: links verify reports per-path links not pointing at the current winuxcmd.exe; the winuxcmd-shim.exe mini-forwarder cuts shim dispatch from 24.5 ms to 12.1 ms; wpm update winuxcmd no longer silently leaves command links on the old image; self-update rollback copies keep the newest two, auto-pruned.
  • v1.1.13 (2026-10-17) wpm: files held by running processes upgrade via rename-aside — either complete or untouched; forced-upgrade verified on a real install with 28 fsmonitor--daemon payload holders; wpm clean staging/all also clears parked .wpm-old-<pid> directories.

Related links

On this site

FAQ

How does WinuxCmd differ from the Unix commands bundled with Git Bash?

WinuxCmd is a single native Win32 executable carrying 176 commands / 1,924 options (3.79 MB, zero DLLs). Git Bash provides similar commands through a ~440 MB MSYS emulation layer that rewrites path-looking arguments before spawn — WinuxCmd’s argv arrives byte-for-byte.

How fast is WinuxCmd?

About 19 ms cold start; with PGO builds sort is 18% faster and nl 17% (measured, per the README).

What does "GNU differential" mean?

Every PR automatically runs a 178-case differential against GNU coreutils 9.7 (131 corpus cases over 67 commands + 47 regressions): 93% pass, with all 13 tracked platform differences named in the ledger — command behavior is measured, not claimed.

How do wpm and WinuxCmd relate?

wpm is compiled straight into winuxcmd.exe (run as winuxcmd wpm) — zero runtime dependencies, no separate install step.

Is it free? Which platforms are supported?

Everything is open source and free. niubash ships native Windows x64 / arm64 installers (winget: Unixwin.Niubash); the rubash engine additionally has CI-gated builds for five platforms: Linux (gnu/musl), macOS, Android and OpenHarmony.