Is winebottler safe to install? 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?
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++