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Ask HN: What's Wrong with Docker?

8 points by chirau 8y ago

I personally like it, with a few limitations of course, but it seems the world is on its case. So what is it, really, that is wrong with Docker that is making folks shun it so much?

chunkles 8y ago
In my opinion it seems that there isn't so much wrong with docker as with people wanting to chase the new thing. If you look at the majority of people proclaiming the impending death of docker you'll see that it's because they think a new service has replaced it, the new thing. I don't believe that docker is going anywhere simply because it is easy to use. I was looking at tutorials for kubernetes and couldn't figure it out even after the third pass. Docker I had up and running in a matter of minutes. There will always be something new for people to chase, and new is interesting. This is part of why web architecture is so fractured, people want to use the new thing whatever it may be. But there is something to be said for easy.
- quickthrower2 8y ago
  Docker is amazingly easy, and it’s more like coding than system maintenance. No installing Linux, just import it! But I have to ask if you don’t use Kube what are you using to orchestrate the containers?
  - chunkles 8y ago
    Right now I'm not using anything for container orchestration. My guiding principle at the moment is keeping it simple. All my containers are one service per container. Which I grant is not the case for everyone and as you find it necessary to scale, having something like kube is a benefit, but it's amazing how much you can do with a single instance if properly provisioned.
CyberFonic 8y ago
I don't use Docker because containers do not offer any benefits / advantages in my use-case. But that isn't because there is anything wrong with Docker. In fact, I would seriously consider using Docker if I needed operating system level virtualisation instead of hardware-level virtualisation. I wonder whether the folks who shun Docker use some other container-oriented approach or whether they simply, like myself, would derive no benefit from using it.
mbrock 8y ago
Dockerfiles as typically used are not a shining example of reproducible, coherent system definition—but they are a good pragmatic hack. I think when you combine the Docker runtime with a more principled image building system, such as Nix or Guix, then you start to approach a really good solution. As for the Docker runtime itself versus various competitors, I don’t really know; this seems like a commodity.
djpilot 8y ago
The creator, Solomon Hykes, rubbed a lot of people the wrong way with his arrogance and narcissism, not to mention poor netiquette. Docker is also a huge layer cake of code, not elegant or beautiful by any stretch. At this point there is enough lipstick on the pig that it more or less works okay in general, though frequently still remains the source of many a headache.

8 points by chirau 8y ago

I personally like it, with a few limitations of course, but it seems the world is on its case. So what is it, really, that is wrong with Docker that is making folks shun it so much?

chunkles 8y ago

In my opinion it seems that there isn't so much wrong with docker as with people wanting to chase the new thing. If you look at the majority of people proclaiming the impending death of docker you'll see that it's because they think a new service has replaced it, the new thing. I don't believe that docker is going anywhere simply because it is easy to use. I was looking at tutorials for kubernetes and couldn't figure it out even after the third pass. Docker I had up and running in a matter of minutes. There will always be something new for people to chase, and new is interesting. This is part of why web architecture is so fractured, people want to use the new thing whatever it may be. But there is something to be said for easy.

quickthrower2 8y ago
Docker is amazingly easy, and it’s more like coding than system maintenance. No installing Linux, just import it! But I have to ask if you don’t use Kube what are you using to orchestrate the containers?
- chunkles 8y ago
  Right now I'm not using anything for container orchestration. My guiding principle at the moment is keeping it simple. All my containers are one service per container. Which I grant is not the case for everyone and as you find it necessary to scale, having something like kube is a benefit, but it's amazing how much you can do with a single instance if properly provisioned.

CyberFonic 8y ago

I don't use Docker because containers do not offer any benefits / advantages in my use-case. But that isn't because there is anything wrong with Docker. In fact, I would seriously consider using Docker if I needed operating system level virtualisation instead of hardware-level virtualisation. I wonder whether the folks who shun Docker use some other container-oriented approach or whether they simply, like myself, would derive no benefit from using it.

mbrock 8y ago

Dockerfiles as typically used are not a shining example of reproducible, coherent system definition—but they are a good pragmatic hack. I think when you combine the Docker runtime with a more principled image building system, such as Nix or Guix, then you start to approach a really good solution. As for the Docker runtime itself versus various competitors, I don’t really know; this seems like a commodity.

djpilot 8y ago

The creator, Solomon Hykes, rubbed a lot of people the wrong way with his arrogance and narcissism, not to mention poor netiquette. Docker is also a huge layer cake of code, not elegant or beautiful by any stretch. At this point there is enough lipstick on the pig that it more or less works okay in general, though frequently still remains the source of many a headache.