CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxdockerlxc
CuriousMind
CuriousMind

Reputation: 8903

LXC : Is it from linuxcontainers.org or part of Linux kernel?

I want to know about LXC and came across this site: https://linuxcontainers.org/lxc/introduction/; in this site, it talks about LXC, LXD, among others.

I am a bit confused, I am under the impression that LXC is a Linux kernel feature, so it should be present in Kernel itself. However, looking at the above site viz: https://linuxcontainers.org/lxc/introduction/, is this same when we say LXC (the kernel feature)? Or is LXC provided to the Linux kernel by https://linuxcontainers.org/lxc/introduction/?

How can I understand this subtle difference?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 219

Answers (1)

Kevin Boone
Kevin Boone

Reputation: 4307

Most of the core features needed to operate Linux in containers are built into the kernel -- namespaces, control groups, virtual roots, etc. However, to assemble a usable container platform from these features requires a considerable amount of infrastructure. We need to manage container storage, create network links between containers, control per-container resource usage, etc. User-space programs can, and are, used to provide this infrastructure, and the tooling that goes with it.

I have written a series of articles on building a container from scratch that explains some of these issues:

http://kevinboone.me/containerfromscratch.html

It's possible in principle to build and connect containers using nothing but the features built into the kernel, and a bunch of shell scripts. Tools like LXC, Docker, and Podman all use the same kernel features (so far as I know), but they manipulate these features in different ways.

Upvotes: 2

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