NSL
lastmod 2026-10-01created 2026-10-011 edits
WSL for Linux
About
- nsl (NSpawn Subsystem for Linux) is a tool that installs development tools and dependencies into a separate Linux environment instead of the host operating system, so you can develop on Debian, Fedora, and others without touching the existing system
- Each environment runs as a systemd-nspawn container inside a shared VM, starts when needed, and keeps packages, services, and files across sessions
- You work on the host's project files under the same user account, and port forwarding and Waypipe make dev servers and Wayland apps available on the host
- Untrusted software runs in a dedicated VM with --isolated, which blocks access to host files and the desktop
- Supports 7 distributions, including Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora, and is released under the MIT license. The first release of the current design is v0.4.0, and there is no stable version yet