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0 pointsneoromantique3y ago0 comments

You're right, I might've extrapolated my usage/experience onto the author accidentally, maybe his use case is indeed different.

I still don't know why you wouldn't use containers though, even if you dislike Docker, something like LXC makes everything oh-so neater.

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4 comments · 1 top-level

blueflow3y ago· 3 in thread

I tried both Docker and Bubblewrap. Containers help with managing dependency creep, but if you avoid that in the first place, you don't need containers.

neoromantiqueOP3y ago

If you only run your own software and are conscious about your dependencies, then dependency creep is gonna be less of an issue, but don't forget that your dependencies often bring theirs too. And third-party software is very often much less mindful of it.

But even besides dependency creep, containers simplify your software env, simplify backups, migrations, permissions(although container are not replacement for secure isolation), file system access, network routing etc,etc,etc.

marginalia_nu3y ago

Containers also make performance tuning and optimization a lot harder, and increase resource consumption by a far greater degree than people are willing to admit. On a by-container basis it's not a lot, a few hundred megabytes here and there, but it builds up very rapidly.

This is compounded by containerizing making the ecosystem more complex, which creates a demand for additional containers to manage and monitor all the containers.

I freed up like 20 Gb of RAM by getting rid of everything container-related on my search engine server and switching to running everything on bare-metal debian.

It makes it easier in the sense of "better accessible", not simpler. The docker network setup and namespace management are actually quite complex.

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