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0 pointsCu3PO422y ago0 comments

> Yep, unfortunately I've not had the time to make it work well on those platforms. I got an initial demo working on MacOS but I'm currently facing the issue that I'm unable to statically compile QEMU on MacOS.

How static are we talking here? There's no reasonable way to not link dynamically against libSystem. Then again, that's obviously present on all Macs, so shouldn't be an issue.

> When docker runs on Windows/MacOS it's actually running the containers in a Linux VM.

True on macOS, but only partially true for Windows. There are actual Windows containers, running natively on Windows and runnihng Windows inside the containers.

But do you even want to distribute Windows binaries? Or are you looking for a way to transparently ship a Linux binary to Windows users?

> Yep I don't think that would be nice. I expect the experience to be transparent to the user.

Does this include automagically mounting filesystems?

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NilsIRL2y ago

> How static are we talking here?

Enough for the executables to run everywhere. So I'm happy for system libraries to be dynamically linked.

> But do you even want to distribute Windows binaries?

That's what I'm imagining. A windows binary that starts a Linux VM in which the container runs.

> Does this include automagically mounting filesystems?

Yep, inside of the Linux kernel. Here's what PID 1 looks like: https://github.com/NilsIrl/dockerc/blob/non_linux/src/init.z...

Cu3PO42OP2y ago

Hey, I appreciate the reply!

> A windows binary that starts a Linux VM in which the container runs.

I'm afraid my wording was somewhat ambiguous here. I meant to ask "do you aim to wrap Windows apps in a single Windows binary", but I suppose you answered my question anyway. You want to distribute Linux applications to Windows users.

Running on Windows/macOS was also the context in which I meant to ask about filesystem mounts. I understand this is not something that's implemented yet, but I'm wondering about your goals. Things obviously get much trickier than they are on Linux. On Windows I'd probably include a Plan9 server for file sharing.

The much larger hurdle I see for Windows support is that I don't think you can setup virtualization without Admin privileges in the general case. If Hyper-V is not already present and enabled you'll need to install some hypervisor. Even QEMU needs Hyper-V for proper virtualization.

NilsIRL2y ago

> Running on Windows/macOS was also the context in which I meant to ask about filesystem mounts.

That's not an issue because the mounts are within the Linux VM. At least as long as you're not trying to implement volumes.

> I understand this is not something that's implemented yet, but I'm wondering about your goals.

Make a better alternative for all the projects that suggest using `docker run` in their READMEs. Something that's easy to setup (re-use existing Dockerfiles) and something that doesn't depend on pre-existing setup from the user (which docker does).

> The much larger hurdle I see for Windows support is that I don't think you can setup virtualization without Admin privileges in the general case. If Hyper-V is not already present and enabled you'll need to install some hypervisor. Even QEMU needs Hyper-V for proper virtualization.

That's good to know. I didn't know that. I guess it will need to use emulation in some cases then.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsCu3PO422y ago0 comments

How static are we talking here? There's no reasonable way to not link dynamically against libSystem. Then again, that's obviously present on all Macs, so shouldn't be an issue.

> When docker runs on Windows/MacOS it's actually running the containers in a Linux VM.

True on macOS, but only partially true for Windows. There are actual Windows containers, running natively on Windows and runnihng Windows inside the containers.

But do you even want to distribute Windows binaries? Or are you looking for a way to transparently ship a Linux binary to Windows users?

> Yep I don't think that would be nice. I expect the experience to be transparent to the user.

Does this include automagically mounting filesystems?

0 comments

NilsIRL2y ago

> How static are we talking here?

Enough for the executables to run everywhere. So I'm happy for system libraries to be dynamically linked.

> But do you even want to distribute Windows binaries?

That's what I'm imagining. A windows binary that starts a Linux VM in which the container runs.

> Does this include automagically mounting filesystems?

Yep, inside of the Linux kernel. Here's what PID 1 looks like: https://github.com/NilsIrl/dockerc/blob/non_linux/src/init.z...

Cu3PO42OP2y ago

Hey, I appreciate the reply!

> A windows binary that starts a Linux VM in which the container runs.

NilsIRL2y ago

> Running on Windows/macOS was also the context in which I meant to ask about filesystem mounts.

That's not an issue because the mounts are within the Linux VM. At least as long as you're not trying to implement volumes.

> I understand this is not something that's implemented yet, but I'm wondering about your goals.

That's good to know. I didn't know that. I guess it will need to use emulation in some cases then.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse