Business Central on ARM / Linux

A custom Wine build that enables Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central's service tier to run on Linux, achieving up to 65% faster CI builds compared to Windows containers.

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Stack: C · Wine
Status: Active
Released: 2023
License: LGPL-2.1

Overview

A custom Wine fork that gets Business Central’s service tier running on Linux by implementing missing Windows APIs. Fixed 13+ HTTP.sys stub functions and IOCTL handlers, added SP800-108 CTR HMAC key derivation, SQL Server encryption support, Event Log implementation, localisation APIs, and Kerberos-related functions.

What works: service tier, OData endpoints, app compilation, publishing, and running tests. Also runs on ARM hardware. What doesn’t: web client, management endpoints, some uncommon .NET interop.

Performance: CI builds are up to 65% faster than Windows containers (6.3 min vs 18 min). Container setup drops from ~16 minutes on Windows to ~5 on Linux. GitHub Actions Linux runners cost half of Windows runners.

Presented at Directions EMEA 2025 with Stefan Maron.

Highlights

13+ HTTP.sys stub functions and IOCTL handlers

SP800-108 CTR HMAC key derivation

SQL Server encryption and Event Log support

Service tier, OData, compile, publish, tests

Up to 65% faster CI vs Windows containers

Overview

Highlights

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