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As I always say: a VM makes an OS believe that it has the machine to itself; a container makes a process believe that it has the OS to itself.

by hliyan 1y ago

weikju 1y ago
I'll have to remember that one!
fulafel 1y ago
I think they linuxcontainers.org people would disagree. Like the table is trying to communicate, in contrast to eg Docker, this is not about application containerization.
- hamandcheese 1y ago
  The table is comparing all three types: VM, system containers, application containers. Incus supports application containers. Its a relatively recent addition. I can't find great docs for it, but its in the release notes last year: https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/news/2024_07_12_05_07.html https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/news/2024_07_12_05_07.html
  - frainfreeze 1y ago
    For those unfamiliar, Incus is 'replacement' for LXD. https://linuxcontainers.org/incus https://linuxcontainers.org/incus
    - hsjmdjdjdb 1y ago
      Not a replacement but a fork of lxd.
- lotharcable 1y ago
  I think that using the term 'application containers' to reference docker and 'system containers' to reference LXC is a bit of a meaningless distinction. You can 100% host "systems containers" on Docker and you can host "applications" on LXC. Like if I want a entire OS with it's own init system and users and so on and so forth I can do it it OCI images. In fact I use it every single day with distrobox on top of Podman using OCI container images. And it works a hell of a lot better then if I tried to do it on LXC.
  - alexeldeib 1y ago
    yeah, the system/application distinction feels somewhat superficial. The “multiple user space” inside a container thing sounds interesting (not sure what that means exactly), but maybe more similar to a Kubernetes pod, except maybe instead of different rootfs there’s another isolation mechanism?
falcojr 1y ago
That's literally the opposite of what this documentation is explaining. System containers exist. You can run the entire userspace of an OS (including systemd) in a container.
abhinavk 1y ago
And a system container makes an OS (or OS userland) believe that that it has the kernel to itself.

As I always say: a VM makes an OS believe that it has the machine to itself; a container makes a process believe that it has the OS to itself.

by hliyan 1y ago

As I always say: a VM makes an OS believe that it has the machine to itself; a container makes a process believe that it has the OS to itself.

weikju 1y ago

I'll have to remember that one!

fulafel 1y ago

I think they linuxcontainers.org people would disagree. Like the table is trying to communicate, in contrast to eg Docker, this is not about application containerization.

hamandcheese 1y ago
The table is comparing all three types: VM, system containers, application containers. Incus supports application containers. Its a relatively recent addition. I can't find great docs for it, but its in the release notes last year: https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/news/2024_07_12_05_07.html https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/news/2024_07_12_05_07.html
- frainfreeze 1y ago
  For those unfamiliar, Incus is 'replacement' for LXD. https://linuxcontainers.org/incus https://linuxcontainers.org/incus
  - hsjmdjdjdb 1y ago
    Not a replacement but a fork of lxd.
lotharcable 1y ago
I think that using the term 'application containers' to reference docker and 'system containers' to reference LXC is a bit of a meaningless distinction. You can 100% host "systems containers" on Docker and you can host "applications" on LXC. Like if I want a entire OS with it's own init system and users and so on and so forth I can do it it OCI images. In fact I use it every single day with distrobox on top of Podman using OCI container images. And it works a hell of a lot better then if I tried to do it on LXC.
- alexeldeib 1y ago
  yeah, the system/application distinction feels somewhat superficial. The “multiple user space” inside a container thing sounds interesting (not sure what that means exactly), but maybe more similar to a Kubernetes pod, except maybe instead of different rootfs there’s another isolation mechanism?

falcojr 1y ago

That's literally the opposite of what this documentation is explaining. System containers exist. You can run the entire userspace of an OS (including systemd) in a container.

abhinavk 1y ago

And a system container makes an OS (or OS userland) believe that that it has the kernel to itself.