Bottles

Bottles is a Linux application that lets you run Windows software and games on a Linux computer. It provides a graphical interface for managing compatibility layers, which are software tools that translate Windows instructions into something Linux can understand. The main technology behind this is Wine, along with additional tools like DXVK that help Windows games run with better graphics performance.

The idea of a "bottle" is an isolated environment for running Windows software. Each bottle can have its own settings and compatibility tools, so one application can run under different conditions than another. This separation means that a problem with one program is unlikely to affect others.

Bottles is available to install from Flathub, which is a software distribution platform for Linux. It is built with GTK4 and Libadwaita, which are the interface toolkit libraries used by modern GNOME applications on Linux. The interface has both a light and a dark mode.

The README is brief and focuses mainly on installation and build instructions. Installing from Flathub is the recommended and simplest method, requiring just a few clicks. Building from source requires Flatpak developer tools, and there are two paths described: one using the standard Flatpak builder tool and one using Meson inside a Flatpak environment. GNOME Builder cannot build Bottles at this time due to a known limitation, and the README links to the relevant issue for context.

The project follows the GNOME Code of Conduct for its community spaces. Sponsors include JetBrains and GitBook. A community forum and Discord server are linked from the README for support and discussion.