Could we get support for a 'full' container format of some sort in ZimaOS?

Insight & Feedback
1

While I’ve had a zimacube for a while, I’ve only been using ZimaOS for about a week. I’m still working out what works (and does not for me), and the lack of a fuller container option is a bit of a annoyance.

While in a lot of cases, docker is perfectly fine - there’s a lot of situations where one needs a solution between docker (especially as a way to utilise pre-built containers) and a full VM (like KVM, of which I believe ZVM is a front end). Quite a few OSes support formats like LXC or Incus. As someone who ends up rolling his own installs where possible, and even has containers set up with their own cloudflare tunnels so I can move a container between hosts without the need for major reconfiguration, the combination of an immutable OS, and a fairly limited set of options outside docker containers is constraining.

Now, since I’m running my entire web hosting on my own hardware on Incus, I’m biased towards it to an extent. I run each application in its own container with another container fronting it, and network speeds are the only real constraint to me moving my setup over to new hardware.

While a web front end (even if there’s already a few) is a big ask - I’m wondering if it would be possible to include incus as an option one can use via CLI - it’d add a lot of functionality for advanced users , and pretty much allow for folks to run nearly anything they want.

2

Good point, but this is kind of where KVM/ZVM already fills that gap.

I’m personally using KVM and it works well. If you need a “full” environment with its own OS, it gives you that clean separation without fighting Docker limitations. It’s heavier than LXC/Incus, but it’s stable and fits the ZimaOS design.

I agree Incus/LXC would still be nice for advanced users, but realistically KVM already covers most of the “I need more than Docker” cases, just with more overhead.

So for now it’s more about choosing:
Docker > lightweight apps
KVM > full control / full OS

Anything in between would be nice, but not strictly missing if KVM is already there.

3

The overhead’s kind of part of it.

Docker’s fine for applications pre-dockerised by the devs, but its a bit of a pain to run custom apps. KVM is a whole seperate OS, with ram and storage not really shared.

I do use KVM for some things - but its overkill for things that run linux. Things like migration between hosts is also an absolute dream, as are backups on my current set up on incus.

I’ve got 8gb on the system I’m testing on and there’s nowhere enough - Ram’s really pricy, as is storage. That middle ground is handy