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I've been missing Notepad++ since changing from Windows to macOS and there's an article that says if I use WineBottler (that's the only thing I miss), it should run.

WineBottler packages Windows-based programs like browsers, media-players, games or business appli­ca­tions snugly into Mac app-bundles.

The notepad aspect is inconsequential (in fact I nearly didn't add it in). I'm aware of other editors, I'm expressly asking about WineBottler. I don't want to know about running Parallels, etc.

I simply want to know if WineBottler is malicious or not.

Is this known to be safe?

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Run Wine

Wine is a translation layer for Windows applications. It's a bit like a virtual machine but doesn't require the Windows OS. It sits between the Windows application and OS X and makes the application think it's running on Windows by translating all the Windows calls its making to OS X calls.

There are two choices of know of here. The free WineBottler and the paid-for CrossOver Mac from CodeWeavers.

Some commercial software is delivered for OS X this way -- I know The Sims 3 game that my wife likes to play on her MacBook Pro is actually the Windows version of the game running under the Wine emulator.

Pros:

  • You don't need to buy a copy of Windows
  • Your OS X-based data can be accessed from your Window programs

Cons:

  • Application support under Wine can be hit-and-miss. Some apps work well, some don't. Check at http://appdb.winehq.org/ to see if your applications are on the list of tested, supported applications if you're going to try WineBottler. CodeWeavers keeps their own list.
  • Because the Windows applications think they're running on Windows, and not everything Windows does translates perfectly to OS X, some applications can behave erratically.

Source: How can I run Windows applications on a MacBook Pro?

It basically installs enough windows frameworks i.e. registry, and DLLs needed by Windows applications to run. It doesnt install a full out version of windows. It is more or less sandboxed, as well as when you compile an application, you can further sandbox that application in its "own" windows subsystem, making it modular, like most macOS applications. It is safe and does not alter your HD filesystem.

Source: Reddit - WINE - is it safe to use?

Notepad++ 7.x in Wine:

What works

Installs Launches (slowly) Opening/saving files Searching What does not

Default font is not monospace Some high Unicode codepoints (surrogate pairs?) do not display correctly Really slow to launch Workarounds

What was not tested

Anything but basic functionality Hardware tested

Graphics:

GPU: Intel Driver: open source Additional Comments

It works out-of-the-box, you just need to change the font to a monospace one that you have installed.

Source: WineHQ - Notepad++

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I simply want to know if WineBottler is malicious or not.

Yes, I had Wine and WineBottler installed for years without problems. As long as you download it from the official source you should be fine.

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  • 2
    Beware, using TextEdit to edit code can make your code unusable because TextEdit replaces normal quotes with "smart" quotes by default.
    – user255044
    Aug 25, 2018 at 10:20
  • Suggesting TextEdit as code editor is the most ridiculous answer I've ever seen on this site, sorry. You cannot even create other files than RTF files with it, although you can edit text files, but it sucks as hell. Best replacement for Notepad++ is Visual Studio Code, imo. Simply use it with Notepad++ key mappings, if you don't want to re-learn key mappings.
    – Martin Braun
    Feb 12, 2019 at 16:14
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    @modiX I don't disagree. Looking over this post from awhile ago, I must have misread Notepad++ as Notepad. I was describing the macOS equivalent, TextEdit. But it should not be used for code editing. Use JetBrains IDEs or Sublime. Do note however, TextEdit can create plaintext files, allowing for html, js, php, etc. to be written.
    – JBis
    Feb 12, 2019 at 16:20
  • P.S. I didn't include Eclipse in that list on purpose....
    – JBis
    Feb 12, 2019 at 16:21
  • @JBis Obviously you have another editor to prefer for code, it's opinion based. And yes, you can (technically) edit code files with TextEdit. That's what I included when I said text files.
    – Martin Braun
    Feb 12, 2019 at 18:06

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