Docker, CoreOS, Amazon Web Services, Apcera, Cisco, EMC, Fujitsu Limited, Goldman Sachs, Google, HP, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Joyent, Linux Foundation, Mesosphere, Microsoft, Pivotal, Rancher Labs, Red Hat and VMware have come together to create standards around container format and runtime.
A broad coalition of industry leaders and users are joining forces to create the Open Container Project (OCP), chartered to establish common standards for software containers.
As part of this initiative, Docker will donate the code for its software container format and its runtime, as well as the associated specifications.
Courtesy: Youtube
Over the past two years, Docker’s image format and container runtime have emerged as the de facto standard. The OCP will manage the transition of the technology from an “insider” standard into an open industry standard, providing for its continued evolution. The Docker project will continue to maintain the Docker client, all platform tooling and all Docker orchestration capabilities that are built on top of the donated technologies. Other projects and companies will also be able to build technologies on the OCP format and runtime.
The leadership of the Application Container spec (appc) initiative, including founding member CoreOS, will also be bringing their technical leadership and support to OCP.
The OCP image format will be backwards compatible with the Docker image format and appc and will include efforts to harmonize with other container efforts in the community.
The guiding principles around OCP standards are that they will: not be bound to higher level constructs such as a particular client or orchestration stack; not be tightly associated with any particular commercial vendor or project and; and be portable across a wide variety of operating systems, hardware, CPU architectures, public clouds, etc.
In establishing the goals for the OCP, the Project has taken into account standardization efforts that are already underway by other ecosystem members. The maintainers of Docker’s libcontainer project (a group that currently includes independent developers and individuals from Docker, Red Hat and Google) will become the lead maintainers for the OCP, joined by two prominent maintainers of appc. They will support open design and contribution based upon the guiding principles of the effort.
Housed under the Linux Foundation and managed under a vendor-neutral, open source, open governance model, the OCP will remain independent from any company or company-sponsored project.
Within three months, the parties aim to complete creating the Project, migrating code and publishing a draft specification building on the technology donated by Docker.
“Containers are revolutionizing the computing industry and delivering on the dream of application portability,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. “With the Open Container Project, Docker is ensuring that fragmentation won’t destroy the promise of containers. Users, vendors and technologists of all kinds will now be able to collaborate and innovate with the assurance that neutral open governance provides. We applaud Docker and the other founding members for having the will and foresight to get this done.”
