The latest stable version of Wine – version 3.0 – is now available for download, bringing a ton of new features with it. For those who may not already be aware, Wine is a piece of software that effectively allows native Windows applications and software to run on non-Windows systems. This is not an application, however, so inexperienced users may want to read through the associated instructions and other information at the source before getting started. In the meantime, the beta for version 3.0 was initially released back in 2016 and the stable version brings over 6,000 changes. As those who have used the software for either Android, Linux, or OS X can attest, that doesn’t mean the new software will be without bugs or limitations. However, it should run a bit smoother now and, according to the official announcement, there are at least four major changes that overshadow the rest.
For starters, this update to Wine includes Direct 3D 10 and 11 support. Those are tied in with Windows’ proprietary DirectX, which is a set of APIs associated with graphics processing and interface handling mostly used in games and other Windows-specific applications. Alongside that inclusion, the Direct3D command stream has been included. Aside from those two things, an Android graphics driver has been added to assist with the display of graphics on an Android device using Wine. Finally, improvements have been made to both DirectWrite and Direct2D support, smoothing out some of the rougher edges. As noted above, however, any of these new features could still have plenty of bugs depending on the version of Android being used. Moreover, the specific device model being used can play a role in bugginess simply because manufacturers tend to use their own custom builds of the Android software environment.
With that said, there are also a few things notably missing from this release which just couldn’t be worked out in time. Since Wine releases are on an annual schedule, that means they won’t be included until next year at the earliest. For example, the announcement lists that Direct3D 12 and Vulkan support has not been added. Finally, OpenGL ES support to enable Direct3D on Android is not yet available. In the meantime, Wine veterans and newcomers alike can navigate through the source link below for more information about installing Wine and what the latest version includes.