I’m excited to announce the open-source release of RunCVM (Run Container Virtual Machine), an experimental Docker container runtime for Linux, that makes launching standard containerised workloads in virtual machines (VMs) as easy as launching them in containers, simply using ‘docker run’.

RunCVM was born out of difficulties experienced using Kata Containers v2 with the Docker and Podman CLIs, and a belief that launching containerised workloads in VMs using Docker needn't be so complicated.

Unlike Kata Containers, RunCVM is compatible with ‘docker run’ today (with experimental support for ‘podman run’). e.g. Launch a vanilla ubuntu VM, with interactive terminal:

docker run --runtime=runcvm --rm -it ubuntu

RunCVM aims to:

- Provide stronger workload isolation than standard containers

- Allow running and testing applications like systemd, Docker, and Kubernetes that won't easily run in standard containers

- Support running tools and apps like iptables, ipvsadm or openvpn that require a running Kernel (or a kernel version or modules not available on the host)

- Emulate specific hardware e.g. disks, network cards, and graphics displays, when required

- Make it easy to create arrays of networked VMs for testing complex multi-machine setups like Docker Swarms

- Be an ideal playground or sandbox for pre-bare metal testing and training

Learn more on GitHub: https://github.com/newsnowlabs/runcvm

Try it now by installing on GitHub Codespaces: https://github.com/newsnowlabs/runcvm#quick-start

Please do share any feedback or suggestions you may have.