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Is there a Docker Desktop for Linux? I don't see one here https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop (the Li

by saghul 5y ago

Is there a Docker Desktop for Linux? I don't see one here https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop (the Linux link takes you to Docker Engine). The article presents "Docker Desktop Alternatives", then says "Minikube requires a VM. False" but it looks like on the platforms being compared here (macOS and Windows, since Docker Desktop is only available there) it does use a VM. Did I get this wrong?

adolph 5y ago
No, not wrong. Any non-Linux system that runs a Linux container will need to run a Linux kernel for that container. This is most often done with a VM even if that VM is obfuscated behind an application like Docker Desktop. This is why WSL 1 is often not supported by such systems even through you can run an "Ubuntu" application within WSL 1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-versions https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-version...
- meatmanek 5y ago
  > Any non-Linux system that runs a Linux container will need to run a Linux kernel for that container. Well, actually... WSL 1, Illumos/SmartOS/OmniOS's LX-branded zones [1], and FreeBSD's Linux Jails [2] all work without a Linux kernel by translating syscalls. This is somewhat analogous to how Wine can run Windows programs without a Windows kernel. Last time I was paying attention to it, Joyent's Triton product provided a Docker API-compatible interface to run Docker containers on their SmartOS-based servers. Looks like that may still be around.[3] 1. https://wiki.smartos.org/lx-branded-zones/ 2. https://wiki.freebsd.org/Linuxulator 3. https://www.joyent.com/triton/compute
  - adolph 5y ago
    Thank you for the "well actually." I generally feel discomfort at blanket statements and often hedge things a bit. This often makes sentences longer and harder to read. This "well actually" did a great job of outlining the corner cases where syscall translation "works," and there aren't many. I'm glad I wasn't totally deluded.
merusso 5y ago
I think the author was speaking generally about Minikube, not specifically as a Docker Desktop replacement here. Minikube can also be installed on Linux and doesn't require a VM in that environment. On Mac and Windows, it does of course require a VM, just as Docker does.

by saghul 5y ago

adolph 5y ago

No, not wrong. Any non-Linux system that runs a Linux container will need to run a Linux kernel for that container. This is most often done with a VM even if that VM is obfuscated behind an application like Docker Desktop. This is why WSL 1 is often not supported by such systems even through you can run an "Ubuntu" application within WSL 1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-versions https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-version...

meatmanek 5y ago
> Any non-Linux system that runs a Linux container will need to run a Linux kernel for that container. Well, actually... WSL 1, Illumos/SmartOS/OmniOS's LX-branded zones [1], and FreeBSD's Linux Jails [2] all work without a Linux kernel by translating syscalls. This is somewhat analogous to how Wine can run Windows programs without a Windows kernel. Last time I was paying attention to it, Joyent's Triton product provided a Docker API-compatible interface to run Docker containers on their SmartOS-based servers. Looks like that may still be around.[3] 1. https://wiki.smartos.org/lx-branded-zones/ 2. https://wiki.freebsd.org/Linuxulator 3. https://www.joyent.com/triton/compute
- adolph 5y ago
  Thank you for the "well actually." I generally feel discomfort at blanket statements and often hedge things a bit. This often makes sentences longer and harder to read. This "well actually" did a great job of outlining the corner cases where syscall translation "works," and there aren't many. I'm glad I wasn't totally deluded.

merusso 5y ago

I think the author was speaking generally about Minikube, not specifically as a Docker Desktop replacement here. Minikube can also be installed on Linux and doesn't require a VM in that environment. On Mac and Windows, it does of course require a VM, just as Docker does.