my shitty toy implementation of POSIX-like fork() emulation on native Windows for fun and learning

mostly taken from cygwin code

to explore the possibilities...? idk

tested under MSYS2 MINGW64 environemnt, require mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc and make

$ make
$ ./test.exe
before fork
in parent
in child
$

• x86
• x86_64
• arm32
• arm64

• this is Non-Copy-On-Write (inspired by Cygwin and PW32), if you are looking for a CoW implementation maybe check midipix

• currently doesn't support working with a real CRT (like msvcrt and ucrt), because they are not fork-aware

• no support for dynamic linking, TLS and stuffs yet

• currently support for heap and mmaped memory are not implemented

• might have unknown impact on win32 objects

• currently only implemented for console subsystem

• currently only known to work within simple programs like this demo

• LLD is not supported due to it lack of linker script support on PE/COFF

no log print for win32 api failures or so yet, but you can debug with API monitor and or by attaching GDB or x64dbg

LGPLv3+

• Cygwin's forking implementation
• setjmp/longjmp implementations from MinGW-w64

• How to build no-CRT Windows programs
• a NT native fork demonstration
• a NT native fork with proper CSRSS notifying and Win32 subsystem integration in winnie (i didn't test)