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This isn't exactly "the difference", but some advantages of distributing software in Docker images include cross-platform support and a uniform sandboxing inter

• shoo 7y ago
  Maybe to rephrase the original question: given that you've already decided to distribute your software as a container image, what is the advantage of storing dependencies in an executable (statically) inside the container image vs storing them some other way inside in the container image?
  • peterwwillis 7y ago
    Basically, it's like distributing a single static binary in a tar file, versus distributing a dynamic binary and all its dependencies in a tar file. The whole purpose of using a tar file is to keep multiple files. You can make a smaller tar file by including just the static file (less inodes/wasted file space of deps linking to each other/unnecessary extra function call data). And technically static files can sometimes execute faster (depending on page/cpu cache etc). But the advantages of static are much smaller when you consider the advantages to dynamic in a tar file - and even more advantages in a container. So while there can be advantageous, they are vanishingly small.