[OT] - Re: Has anyone worked on docker with windows

[Percival John Hackworth]

On 30-Nov-2017, Michael Torrie wrote
(in article<mailman.87.1512067768.2898.python-list at python.org>):

> Marking this message as off topic, since it has nothing much to do with
> Python and Python programming. In fact this whole thread should have
> been started on a Docker-specific forum, mailing list, or USENET group.
> To the original poster: you should visit the Docker web site and access
> the community resources they have there:
>
> https://www.docker.com/docker-community
>
> On 11/29/2017 09:03 PM, Percival John Hackworth wrote:
> > To clarify, I think the OP was asking if they could Windows inside a Docker
> > container. Since Docker uses the kernel of the OS it's running on, that
> > would
> > mean it would have to run natively on Windows.
>
> Unless things have changed Docker has always been about running Linux
> software in Linux containers on all supported OSes, which includes Mac
> and Windows. On Mac and Windows this requires running a VM, although now
> with Docker for Windows it can run the Linux containers on the
> integrated HyperV virtualization system, so you don't necessarily need
> to install VirtualBox or VMWare.
>
> https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/cloud-platform/containers
>
> > Back in January, it didn't run on Windows. Now apparently you can run a
> > Windows 10 or Server 2016 environment in a container. I would think, given
> > the architecture of Docker, that you can only do this on a Windows machine,
> > not a Linux box. So the ability to containerize an application on Linux and
> > run it anywhere Docker is installed (even MacOS) only applicable to Linux
> > apps.
>
> Docker has run on Windows since very early on. Not quite sure why you
> say it didn't run on Windows back in January.
>
> As for running Windows applications in a Windows container, this is not
> possible using any container technology I'm aware of. I'm sure MS could
> one day build Windows-centric containerization into Windows, but there's
> no support now. I guess they haven't figured out how to work out the
> licensing. Proprietary licensing and containers would be complex.

When I said "Didn't run on Windows" I should have written "Didn't run on 
Windows *natively*". Back then, Docker had come out with a MacOS version that 
stopped using the Docker-machine CoreOS VM and Virtual Box and ran directly 
on supported Intel-based MacOS. My 2009 MacPro desktop is to old to run the 
right processor and boot ROM to run Docker natively but my 2011 laptop has no 
problem. In May, I played with Docker on Windows 10 and discovered their new 
distribution model of a free community edition and an paid Enterprise 
edition. Neither supported running *native* Windows and still required 
docker-machine and a Virtual Box VM to run Linux Kernel 3.10 or greater based 
containers. You could not, at that time, run Windows anything inside a 
container.

Apparently, today in Dec 2017, you can run Windows inside a docker container 
natively on a Windows 10 or Windows 2016 server machine without a VM. And it 
uses hyperV or some other technology to run a Linux container with a Linux VM 
natively on Windows 10/Windows 2016 Server. Or so the site says. Licensing 
Linux software depends on the software. Windows, as you say, is complex. Or 
as Steve Jobs said "a huge bag of hurt" (he was referring to licensing and 
support for BluRay on MacOS at the time).