The Moby Project is an open-source initiative introduced in 2017 by Docker to advance the software containerization movement and help the ecosystem take containers mainstream. It serves as an open R&D lab for Docker, allowing the community to experiment, develop new components, and collaborate on the future of container technology. The Moby Project provides a library of components, a framework for assembling them into custom container-based systems, and a platform for exchanging ideas among container enthusiasts.
Moby is composed of two main elements:
- Library of containerized backend components: This includes various components such as a low-level builder, logging facility, volume management, networking, image management, containerd, SwarmKit, and more. These components can be used to create customized container systems.
- Framework for assembling components: This framework enables users to assemble the components into a standalone container platform. It also provides tooling to build, test, and deploy artifacts for these assemblies.
The Moby Project is designed for system builders who want to build their own container-based systems, rather than application developers who can use Docker or other container platforms. Participants in the Moby project can choose from the library of components derived from Docker or bring their own components (BYOC) packaged as containers, with the option to mix and match among all of the components to create a customized container system.
Some of the key technologies and dependencies associated with the Moby Project are:
- Docker: Docker is the containerization platform that started the containerization movement. The Moby Project is an open R&D lab for Docker, and all open-source collaboration will move to the Moby project.
- Apache License, Version 2.0: Moby is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0, which allows for the free use, modification, and distribution of the software.
- Go Programming Language: Go is the primary programming language used in the Moby Project, as well as in Docker and containerd.
- Git: Git is the version control system used for managing the source code of the Moby Project.
- Markdown: Markdown is the lightweight markup language used for documentation in the Moby Project.
- Dockerfile: Dockerfile is a text document that contains all the commands a user could call on the command line to assemble an image.
- Containerd: Containerd is a core component of the Moby Project, providing core container runtime functionality. It is a graduated CNCF project and is widely used as a container runtime.
- libcontainer: libcontainer is the library of container runtime components used in the Moby Project.
- runC: runC is the CLI tool for spawning and running containers according to the OCI specification.
- Networking: Networking is a crucial aspect of containerization, and the Moby Project provides various networking-related components.
Sources:
- Introducing the Moby Project
- Moby Project website
- The Secret Gems Behind Building Container Images: Enter BuildKit and Docker BuildX
- Docker Engine Installation Documentation
- CNCF SIG Runtime 2021-03-18
- Intro + Deep Dive: containerd - Wei Fu, Alibaba & Mike Brown, IBM
- Extending containerd - Samuel Karp & Maksym Pavlenko, Amazon