Apple Just Sherlocked Docker | Hacker News Reader

Apple Just Sherlocked Docker

xeiaso.net

14 pointsTomte11 comments

I've recently switched to Orbstack as a drop-in replacement for Docker on my MacBook and it’s faster and more efficient.

The main reason it works well for me is that I don't have to change anything about my workflow, commands like 'docker run' and 'docker compose up' still work, just faster and more efficient.

If Apple's container works the same they might 'sherlock' Docker and Orbstack.

This is actually probably pretty terrible news for orbstack because one of the value props the app has is some kernel/os level api black magic to get around some of the constraints the normal apis give you when running containers. This seems like you can use an official api to achieve these optimized approaches instead, effectively removing one of orbstack’s core value props

Good, I mean docker as an open source project was a good step up from LXC, but docker as a VC funded pivot to try and make money from their electron desktop app was in dire need of replacement and Colima just didn't cut it.

What does the new Containerization Framework add to the OS that was impossible before? Or, what specific features enable the high performance Linux that’s impossible in Docket?

It's a first party supported container solution, and it doesn't have weird, desperate licensing terms attached to it. This is effectively the last nail in the coffin for "docker" on Mac, unless you got suckered into a legacy support contract.

if I understand correctly, the difference is that before docker on Mac was running inside a Linux VM, where now it's running on apple silicon.

Sorry, edit button not working...

But I didn't understand if they support the same container spec from docker or not: i. e. will a container created with docker run on apple silicon now?

> where now it's running on apple silicon.

It's still running in a tiny Linux VM. One VM per container if what I've read is right...

It's running on Apple Silicon because it's only available on Apple Silicon. Docker/orbstack/lima/etc are also running on Apple Silicon when your Mac is an Apple Silicon Mac, so I didn't quite get the meaning of that last one...

If you were trying to say it's running natively without a Linux VM though, it's wrong insofar as it's not running on a single shared VM as the other solutions do but it's still using Linux VMs.

oh... but then what's the point?

My question exactly. :)

(I meant Docker, obviously. Autocorrect or fat-finger, hard to say. :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com