4 ms·

How are namespaces similar to microkernels? I see them a lot more as glorified chroot; it's not like there's a modprobe namespace or anything.

• pjmlp 4y ago
  Namespaces are a tiny part of what means a complete container infrastructure, across all OS layers. Then there is the whole IPC taking place across containers with much slower APIs and heavier context switch states.
  • zamalek 4y ago
    Containers on Linux don't have slower APIs or IPC, and don't have heavier context switches. Are you sure you're not thinking about VMs?
    • pjmlp 4y ago
      How do containers communicate with each other?
      • zamalek 4y ago
        Sockets, shared memory, or the network, just like any Linux process.
        • pjmlp 4y ago
          Shared memory across containers, across isolation layers, that is a good one. The two remaining ones are worse than any micro-kernel API call in performace.
          • zamalek 4y ago
            It's explicit, just like all the other mapping/mounting options[1], and containers aren't exclusively for secure isolation anyway. Many examples exist where security isn't desirable, such as the afformentioned toolbox/distrobox. [1]: https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/run/#ipc-settings---ipc https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/run/#ipc-settings--...