WINE(1)

📦 version 6.0, in ubuntu jammy

🎀 NAME 🎀

wine — run Windows programs on Unix 💅 (yes bestie, the whole manual is literally called WINE(1), Windows On Unix, and we are SO here for it)

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

wine program [arguments]
wine --help
wine --version

okay so real talk: for the deets on how to actually yeet arguments into a Windows program, scroll your cute self down to the PROGRAM/ARGUMENTS section. it's giving essential reading, no cap 🫶

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

wine loads and runs whatever program you hand it — could be a DOS, Windows 3.x, Win32 or Win64 executable (the Win64 one only if you're on a 64-bit system, periodt).

For debugging wine, use winedbg instead. different tool, different vibe, bestie 💅

For running CUI executables (aka Windows console programs), use wineconsole instead of wine. it'll pop the output into its own separate window 🌈. and listen — if you DON'T use wineconsole for CUI programs, you only get very limited console support and your program might not function properly. that's not me being dramatic, that's the manual. 🙈

When you invoke it with --help or --version as the only argument, wine will simply print a small help message or its version respectively and then exit. short king behaviour, honestly 👑

🦋 PROGRAM/ARGUMENTS 🦋

the program name can be in DOS format (C:\\WINDOWS\\SOL.EXE) or in Unix format (/msdos/windows/sol.exe). both slay, pick your fave ✨

You may pass arguments to the program being executed by adding them to the end of the command line invoking wine, like:

wine notepad C:\\TEMP\\README.TXT
⚠️ heads up bestie: you need to '\' escape special characters (and spaces) when invoking Wine via a shell, e.g.
wine C:\\Program\ Files\\MyPrg\\test.exe

It can also be one of the Windows executables shipped with Wine, in which case specifying the full path is not mandatory, e.g. wine explorer or wine notepad. lazy-girl wins fr fr 💅

💜 ENVIRONMENT 💜

wine makes the environment variables of the shell from which it is started accessible to the Windows/DOS processes started. So use the appropriate syntax for your shell to enter the environment variables you need. know your shell, know your power 🌸

  • WINEPREFIX — If set, the contents of this variable is taken as the name of the directory where Wine stores its data (the default is $HOME/.wine). This directory is also used to identify the socket which is used to communicate with the wineserver. All wine processes using the same wineserver (i.e.: same user) share certain things like registry, shared memory, and config file. By setting WINEPREFIX to different values for different wine processes, it is possible to run a number of truly independent wine processes. multiple separate universes, one girlboss 🪐
  • WINESERVER — Specifies the path and name of the wineserver binary. If not set, Wine will try to load /usr/lib/wine-development/wineserver, and if this doesn't exist it will then look for a file named "wineserver" in the path and in a few other likely locations. it goes hunting 🔍
  • WINELOADER — Specifies the path and name of the wine binary to use to launch new Windows processes. If not set, Wine will try to load /usr/lib/wine-development/wine, and if this doesn't exist it will then look for a file named "wine" in the path and in a few other likely locations. same energy, different binary 💫
  • WINEDEBUG — Turns debugging messages on or off. The syntax of the variable is of the form [class][+|-]channel[,[class2][+|-]channel2]

class is optional and can be one of the following: err, warn, fixme, or trace. If class is not specified, all debugging messages for the specified channel are turned on. Each channel will print messages about a particular component of Wine. The following character can be either + or - to switch the specified channel on or off respectively. If there is no class part before it, a leading + can be omitted. Note that spaces are not allowed anywhere in the string. none. zero. not even one. 💀

Examples:

WINEDEBUG=warn+all

will turn on all warning messages (recommended for debugging). 👑

WINEDEBUG=warn+dll,+heap

will turn on DLL warning messages and all heap messages.

WINEDEBUG=fixme-all,warn+cursor,+relay

will turn off all FIXME messages, turn on cursor warning messages, and turn on all relay messages (API calls).

WINEDEBUG=relay

will turn on all relay messages. For more control on including or excluding functions and dlls from the relay trace, look into the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\Debug registry key. iykyk 🔑

For more information on debugging messages, see the Running Wine chapter of the Wine User Guide.

  • WINEDLLPATH — Specifies the path(s) in which to search for builtin dlls and Winelib applications. This is a list of directories separated by ":". In addition to any directory specified in WINEDLLPATH, Wine will also look in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/wine-development.
  • WINEDLLOVERRIDES — Defines the override type and load order of dlls used in the loading process for any dll. There are currently two types of libraries that can be loaded into a process address space: native windows dlls (native) and Wine internal dlls (builtin). The type may be abbreviated with the first letter of the type (n or b). The library may also be disabled (''). Each sequence of orders must be separated by commas.

Each dll may have its own specific load order. The load order determines which version of the dll is attempted to be loaded into the address space. If the first fails, then the next is tried and so on. Multiple libraries with the same load order can be separated with commas. It is also possible to use specify different loadorders for different libraries by separating the entries by ";".

The load order for a 16-bit dll is always defined by the load order of the 32-bit dll that contains it (which can be identified by looking at the symbolic link of the 16-bit .dll.so file). For instance if ole32.dll is configured as builtin, storage.dll will be loaded as builtin too, since the 32-bit ole32.dll contains the 16-bit storage.dll. it's a package deal bestie 🎁

Examples:

WINEDLLOVERRIDES="comdlg32,shell32=n,b"

Try to load comdlg32 and shell32 as native windows dll first and try the builtin version if the native load fails.

WINEDLLOVERRIDES="comdlg32,shell32=n;c:\\foo\\bar\\baz=b"

Try to load the libraries comdlg32 and shell32 as native windows dlls. Furthermore, if an application request to load c:\foo\bar\baz.dll load the builtin library baz.

WINEDLLOVERRIDES="comdlg32=b,n;shell32=b;comctl32=n;oleaut32="

Try to load comdlg32 as builtin first and try the native version if the builtin load fails; load shell32 always as builtin and comctl32 always as native; oleaut32 will be disabled.

  • WINEPATH — Specifies additional path(s) to be prepended to the default Windows PATH environment variable. This is a list of Windows-style directories separated by ";".

For a permanent alternative, edit (create if needed) the PATH value under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment registry key. ✨ forever girl ✨

  • WINEARCH — Specifies the Windows architecture to support. It can be set either to win32 (support only 32-bit applications), or to win64 (support both 64-bit applications and 32-bit ones in WoW64 mode). The architecture supported by a given Wine prefix is set at prefix creation time and cannot be changed afterwards. When running with an existing prefix, Wine will refuse to start if WINEARCH doesn't match the prefix architecture. it's a permanent commitment, no take-backs 💍
  • DISPLAY — Specifies the X11 display to use. 🌈

OSS sound driver configuration variables:

  • AUDIODEV — Set the device for audio input / output. Default /dev/dsp.
  • MIXERDEV — Set the device for mixer controls. Default /dev/mixer.
  • MIDIDEV — Set the MIDI (sequencer) device. Default /dev/sequencer.

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • /usr/lib/wine-development/wine — The Wine program loader.
  • /usr/lib/wine-development/wineconsole — The Wine program loader for CUI (console) applications.
  • /usr/lib/wine-development/wineserver — The Wine server 💅
  • /usr/lib/wine-development/winedbg — The Wine debugger 🐛
  • /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/wine-development — Directory containing Wine shared libraries 📚
  • $WINEPREFIX/dosdevices — Directory containing the DOS device mappings. Each file in that directory is a symlink to the Unix device file implementing a given device. For instance, if COM1 is mapped to /dev/ttyS0 you'd have a symlink of the form $WINEPREFIX/dosdevices/com1 -> /dev/ttyS0. DOS drives are also specified with symlinks; for instance if drive D: corresponds to the CDROM mounted at /mnt/cdrom, you'd have a symlink $WINEPREFIX/dosdevices/d: -> /mnt/cdrom. The Unix device corresponding to a DOS drive can be specified the same way, except with '::' instead of ':'. So for the previous example, if the CDROM device is mounted from /dev/hdc, the corresponding symlink would be $WINEPREFIX/dosdevices/d:: -> /dev/hdc. symlinks all the way down, iconic 🦋

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Wine is available thanks to the work of many developers. For a listing of the authors, please see the file AUTHORS in the top-level directory of the source distribution. they ate and left no crumbs fr fr 🫶

Wine can be distributed under the terms of the LGPL license. A copy of the license is in the file COPYING.LIB in the top-level directory of the source distribution.

🙈 BUGS 🙈

A status report on many applications is available from the Wine Application Database. Please add entries to this list for applications you currently run, if necessary. do it for the girls ✨

Bugs can be reported on the Wine bug tracker.

⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

The most recent public version of wine is available through WineHQ, the Wine development headquarters. 🌈

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

wineserver(1), winedbg(1), Wine documentation and support.

k bye bestie 💖 this whole page was written for Wine 6.0, dated way back in July 2013, and it lives under the title WINE(1) — Windows On Unix. stay slay, run your weird little .exe files, periodt 🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from