Ask HN: What are options to Docker for local dev due to the licensing changes?

1 point·sidcool··6 comments

In lieu of the Grace Period for the Docker Subscription Service Agreement Ending soon, what are some viable alternatives to Docker Desktop? I hear about a lot of them including podman etc., but not sure how much of a drop in replacement it would be.

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Podman is probably your best bet, but it's not necessarily a drop-in replacement the way I think of "drop-in", at least. But you aren't necessarily getting a desktop app with Podman, so you may want to just try Docker cmd line first.

There is always docker's command line -- it is actually pretty good and not that complex. Yes, there is a bit of the learning curve, but command line ability is pretty useful in general.

Install a Linux VM, run command-line Docker inside the VM.

Any resources on this?

I have a desk with a Linux rig right behind me. I use VSCode remote environments most of the time when building containers (which runs over ssh). You could do this with a VM locally too.

Just do it.

Look up how to install a Linux VM under Hyper-V. Don't waste your time with WSL 2 because a WSL 2 system will always be configured in a wrong way idiosyncratic to Microsoft. You want to configure the VM so it can access the outside world but still have an internal network address that you can ssh into.

I've had the best luck installing Desktop Ubuntu and then disabling X Windows because you've already got Microsoft Windows. To move files in an out of the VM use WinSCP. Any scheme for sharing files between Linux and Windows will screw up in some subtle ways and have you scratching your head at least and crying at worst, so don't. Treat it the same way you would a development machine in the cloud.

Then install and run docker in the VM exactly the same way you would for a cloud development machine.

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