Wine 11.22 adds AVX support for ARM64 on Linux, making it easier to run x86 Windows apps. The release also brings address space randomization and 34 bug fixes.
- Wine 11.22 adds AVX support when running x86 applications on ARM64 Linux systems.
- This release includes address space randomization, a security mechanism that makes memory layout harder to predict.
- It ships 34 bug fixes for games and apps, including Dragon Age: Origins, Guild Wars 2, and Notepad++.
- Source code is available on GitLab.wine, and binary packages for supported Linux distributions are on the project's download page.
Table of Contents
Who this release is for and what it does
This article summarizes Wine 11.22, the compatibility layer that lets you run Windows apps and games on Linux, macOS, and other Unix-like operating systems. The most notable change is the ability to use x86 Windows apps on ARM64 machines running Linux, thanks to the new AVX support.
Step 1: download the release. The source code is available on the GitLab.wine release page. Binary packages for supported Linux distributions will be provided through the project's download page.
Step 2: work out which group your machine falls into
AVX is an instruction set that some applications need to work properly. Wine 11.22 adds support for these instructions when running x86 apps on ARM64, removing a compatibility barrier for software that requires them. If you use an Intel or AMD machine, check each fix below to see which changes are relevant to you.
The update also introduces a new security feature, address space randomization, which makes memory layout harder to predict. According to Linuxiac, Wine 11.22 also updates locale data to Unicode CLDR 49, improves the accuracy of Tahoma font glyph metrics, and rewrites the Document Type Definition validation in MSXML. The new mechanism is similar to Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) on Windows, which makes it harder for attackers to guess where to strike.
Step 3: check the bug fixes
Wine 11.22 fixes 34 bugs affecting games and apps. The Wine team updated the Vulkan renderer and addressed a batch of problems that caused games to hang, fail to load, or show severe graphical glitches. Dragon Age: Origins no longer crashes on the intro screen and loading pages, while Black Mirror II and III get fixes for character model and animation bugs. Guild Wars 2, Alan Wake, and Alan Wake's American Nightmare also see fixes for misbehavior.
F.E.A.R. 3 used to exit immediately on launch because FindResourceEx no longer checked for the explicitly requested language ID 0x8301. That is now fixed. A missing RGB565 fallback for the Vulkan swapchain, which caused crashes in many games, has also been patched. These changes improve compatibility, but they do not guarantee that every affected app will run flawlessly.
Which apps are fixed, and what to keep in mind
On the app side, Notepad++ no longer shows a broken menu bar, and WinSCP no longer crashes when opening the About window. Logos Bible Software gets fixes for graphical glitches and flickering menus. FreeCommander, a free file manager for Windows, no longer crashes at startup when Wine is configured to report a Windows version newer than Windows XP. FastStone Image Viewer 5.9 also fixes a bug where the crop shortcut failed to open the crop window in full-screen mode.
At the system level, this release fixes threading issues in Wine's server infrastructure and adds missing Windows Management Instrumentation properties. Wine also supports importing ECDSA keys in its implementation of Windows cryptography. A common caveat: a fix does not mean every game or app will run smoothly, so read the notes for each bug carefully before updating.
AVX support is a valuable piece of the puzzle for ARM64 machines running Linux, since many modern x86 programs require this instruction set. Still, Wine is a compatibility layer, so users should test the exact apps they need before switching over for good.
Source: How-To Geek (how-to)
Reviewed by: Hero Association
