Wine now runs on OpenBSD, thanks to a workaround for a missing CPU register

What the port does and what it can't

On 2026-10-18 Thomas Frohwein posted a draft Wine port to the openbsd-ports list, asking for an "ok" to continue. He credits a team effort: Andrii wrote the software workaround for the %gs/gsbase problem and, with Fabien, did most of the heavy lifting, with testing from brynet@, bentley@, pertho and vl_ms.

The technical trick is stated plainly in the message: gsbase can't be set on OpenBSD, so the port emulates the %gs prefix on commands. Several dozen 64-bit Windows programs were tested, mostly successfully; the Witcher 3 remaster runs well with vkd3d-proton added, and Frohwein suggests the portable 64-bit Notepad++ 8.9.8.1 as a smoke test.

The limits are real. WoW64 doesn't work, so 32-bit Windows software won't run (file(1) tells you a binary's bitness). Built-in tests are disabled because they need an X server and several hang. Frohwein calls it run-at-your-own-risk and recommends a separate unprivileged user until unveil(2) sandboxing is explored.

Where the thread went

Jokes came first (a missed opportunity to call it "Port", and the author's surname Frohwein translating to "happy wine"). Then practical questions. Datasette's creator wanted the history:

"OpenBSD apparently still uses CVS. I found this GitHub mirror of their ports repo which has the new wine port… Anyone know if this wine port has its own repository somewhere else tracking the history of the development effort?" — Simon Willison, creator of Datasette and co-creator of Django

Gaming evidence arrived fast: one commenter linked gameplay recordings of Disco Elysium, Hollow Knight, Prey (2017), Death Stranding and Witcher 3 Remastered. Another commenter framed the news as welcome because OpenBSD is shaping up to be a refuge from slopcode, linking an openbsd-tech message.

Why it matters beyond games

For OpenBSD desktop users, the gap was never Linux binary compatibility but Windows software. The gsbase workaround shows how far the project will go to keep its security model intact rather than loosen it. Until WoW64 works, expect 64-bit-only programs.