... and add questions like: are all paths correct for this machine, are binary lib dependencies the same as in production, are the OS versions compatible between dev and prod, is my local runtime version compiled with same options?
The great example where the indirection adds value is: every developer has the same environment and the CI is the same, regardless of personal preferences in systems.
A lot of the problems docker solves is as soon as you need to fit out a team with a mix of environments and split ops from dev
I still use it for individual projects because I never plan on maintaining everything forever - makes it easier to grow to a 1+1 team or hand the project to someone else or solicit contributions
Also builds your experience for when you do work in teams
Some languages bundle all of their dependencies so you can be relatively sure they will run the same on prod. For others (Python, Ruby) that use many system libraries, containers may add value
Yes, which is where you can reach for firecracker for example. But docker gets you 95% there. If kernel makes a difference you can make the decision about the other 5%.
> Some languages bundle all of their dependencies so you can be relatively sure they will run the same on prod.
As long as they're static, vendored dependencies. Otherwise you're still likely to run into pulling something very common like openssl, zlib or libuv from the system.