mirkobrombin/raven

The problem

Linux users who need a Windows application usually pick between a virtual machine with a full Windows license and the Wine ecosystem, where an installer may fail on a missing DLL, a registry quirk, or an unsupported .NET version. Raven takes a third route: install the app with its own Windows installer into a private prefix, and let the program's code execute directly on the Linux CPU inside a sandbox.

What's different

Wine translates Windows API calls to POSIX ones in-process and relies on users to patch gaps with winetricks and DLL overrides. Raven instead answers every system call itself, acting as the Windows kernel and services, and keeps its own system libraries in charge even when an installer overwrites kernel32 or user32. That design targets installers and runtimes specifically: NSIS, Inno Setup, MSI with custom actions and rollback, Visual C++ 2005–2022, .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8, DirectX redistributables, and side-by-side assemblies. Graphics go through Wayland and Vulkan with DXVK and vkd3d-proton, including D3D12 ray tracing. The README also includes benchmarks against Wine 11.0 and Soda, with ClassiCube at a 71.5 median FPS versus 63.0 for both; treat these as one project's own measurements, not independent results.

Who it's for

Linux users on x86_64 who need a specific Windows productivity app — Notepad++, 7-Zip, Audacity, KeePass — and would rather avoid configuring a compatibility layer. It is not for ARM Linux, not for macOS or Windows hosts, and not yet for people who need a stable drop-in Wine replacement: the tested matrix has only one app at 100%, VLC fails to start, and KeePass needs a .NET runtime that a fresh prefix lacks. Gamers should stay on Proton, which has far more titles verified.

Cost of adoption

There are no binary releases; you build from source with CMake 3.20+, a C++20 compiler, Python 3.11+, MinGW-w64, and desktop dependencies (Wayland, xkbcommon, pixman, FreeType, Vulkan). The provisioning scripts fetch pinned versions of Skia, DXVK and vkd3d-proton. Each application needs its own RAVEN_PREFIX. Raven's code is MIT, but bundled upstream components carry GPL, LGPL, BSD, libpng, Unicode and Skia terms, so a distributed build inherits those obligations. Some tests require proprietary installers you must supply yourself.

Verdict

The project is essentially brand new — created the day HotRepo first saw it — and its 201 stars come from a single board spike of about 198 a day, not from a long track record. That means the architecture is interesting and the installer-focused approach is a real bet against Wine's model, but the compatibility surface is small and the only evidence is the author's own test matrix and benchmarks. Watch it if you have a stubborn installer; don't migrate a working Wine setup onto it yet.