Simple Containers
While working with openembeded
, I needed specific version of some software
(well, not specific, but not the bleeding edge Arch Linux has).
I didn't want to use a virtual machine because I wanted shared filesystems to be able to work on the project from Arch and compile it using a stable distribution.
At first I thought of Docker, but my last experience with it was not pleasant. I didn't need complicated network setup, I wanted direct access to the filesystem and simplicity.
While reading the excellent Arch wiki, I stumbled onto systemd-nspawn
which is basically systemd containers.
You just give it a directory and "voilĂ " you have a working container.
Arch also provide a tool to bootstrap debian.
So, just do (mostly copied from Arch wiki):
host# debootstrap --include=systemd-container stable debian/ http://deb.debian.org/debian/
(where debian/
is the root directory of the container)
After that, spawn the container, first with only the shell to set a root password:
host# systemd-nspawn -D debian
guest# passwd
guest# logout
Then start the container with init:
host# systemd-nspawn -b -D debian
More info on the wiki.
With this, I can manage guest filesystem from the host (using ZFS), I created a user in the guest with the same uid as my host user, so I can just work on the project from the host.