[CentOS-devel] OCI Image Compatibility Spec

Thu Sep 21 12:52:03 UTC 2023
Colin Walters <walters at verbum.org>

Hi,

On Tue, Sep 5, 2023, at 9:26 AM, Marcin Franczyk wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am writing to ask if at Red Hat you would be interested to 
> collaborate on container image standard improvements under Open 
> Container Initiative (https://opencontainers.org/).
>
> At Huawei we identified that container image specification lacks 
> compatibility requirements. 
> For instance if you run a container that requires an NVIDIA GPU then 
> you have to make sure that CUDA library in the container matches the 
> CUDA driver on the host. The required version of the driver could be 
> expressed in the container image. There are plenty of similar use cases 
> when it comes to kernel configuration, boot args, modules or 
> out-of-tree drivers.
>
> More details could be found here: 
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lzwh8DGMu5vXXHwJmnewYIMffkcOEvH8owX4UYjRcw0/edit?usp=sharing

I added a comment in https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lzwh8DGMu5vXXHwJmnewYIMffkcOEvH8owX4UYjRcw0/edit?disco=AAAA5kwp_40
>
> I think OpenShift and its Machine Config operator could benefit from 
> this by influencing worker node configuration based on the image 
> specification, which would mean that customers would also benefit.

Hmm; you're talking about changing the host OS depending on what gets scheduled to it?  That'd make everything kind of loopy =)  Normally one instead schedules workloads to compatible hosts, requiring the hosts to be prepared out of band.

> I am forming a working group under OCI and believe this initiative 
> should not come only from one company since that will be a global 
> standard.

Right.

>
> I prepared a template for a working group that will be voted on by the 
> Technical Oversight Board (https://github.com/opencontainers/tob).
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WZbr7xEpUohvyIiSvJEgCCxhAVMM9DmgXBsk1q1MtVU/edit?usp=sharing
>
> The voting will take place once I create a PR.
> I think, after the working group is approved, we would need 2-3 months 
> to come up with the first standard and a client tool to build and 
> validate the specification.

What's the expected time commitment from the working group?

Let me see if I can find others at Red Hat who may be interested in this too.