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We recently moved the "How to use libpod for custom/derivative projects" page to the docs/tutorials directory. This adds a link to the README.md there so it can be more easily found and adds a logo to the tutorial itself. Signed-off-by: TomSweeneyRedHat <tsweeney@redhat.com>
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How to use libpod for custom/derivative projects
libpod today is a Golang library and a CLI. The choice of interface you make has advantages and disadvantages.
Running as a subprocess
Advantages:
- Many commands output JSON
- Works with languages other than Golang
- Easy to get started
Disadvantages:
- Error handling is harder
- May be slower
- Can't hook into or control low-level things like how images are pulled
Vendoring into a Go project
Advantages:
- Significant power and control
Disadvantages:
- You are now on the hook for container runtime security updates (partially,
runc
/crun
are separate) - Binary size
- Potential skew between multiple libpod versions operating on the same storage can cause problems
Varlink
Some code exists for this; splits the difference. Future uncertain.
Making the choice
A good question to ask first is: Do you want users to be able to use podman
to manipulate the containers created by your project?
If so, that makes it more likely that you want to run podman
as a subprocess. If you want a separate image store and a fundamentally
different experience; if what you're doing with containers is quite different from those created by the podman
CLI,
that may drive you towards vendoring.