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Show HN: Slim – Build and run tiny VMs from Dockerfiles

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Re: Show HN: Slim – Build and run tiny VMs from Dockerfiles

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Used to have self-replicating persistent malware hidden inside filed that fit on floppy disks.

And now we have compromised NPM packages and Dockerhub accounts. What's your point?

My point is people used to be able to program computers and now it's all embedded browsers all the way down which is why the recommended way to install ubuntu from macos involves downloading and running (as root!) a 330MB electron app.

Re: Show HN: Slim – Build and run tiny VMs from Dockerfiles

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just curious what you feel about Java, .Net, Python and Ruby? Ruby is a hair smaller, but the others are actually bigger than the NodeJS runtime, with .Net and Java being significantly bigger. Or, do you only run software hand crafted in assembly?

You're painting a false dichotomy. There are lighter-weight options, like Go.

There's also Rust, C/C++, D, and others. It's not exactly a false dichotomy as I'm pretty sure GP and others who bring up these tropes against Node do use other scripted or higher level languages that have an even bigger footprint.

Re: Show HN: Slim – Build and run tiny VMs from Dockerfiles

#93
post #48

Recently on HN (I think) and related: - https://micromind.me/en/posts/from-docker-container-to-boota... - https://godarch.com/ Really like seeing these new usecases for containers -- would have never thought to mix the two technologies in this way.

Author of Darch here, if anyone has any questions. Here are my personal recipes: https://github.com/pauldotknopf/darch-recipes

I love that your website is “god arch[itecture].com”. Was that intentional?

Re: Show HN: Slim – Build and run tiny VMs from Dockerfiles

#94
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

good luck to your friend with repeatable installations :P

If you need repeatable installations, wouldn't node be the wrong tool? I mean, you'd have to freeze everything yourself and then those libraries become _your_ problem. Ugh. That's a hell nobody wants.

To be pedantic, it's "wouldn't npm be the wrong tool" (it isn't, necessarily, I believe lockfiles provide you with reproducible builds)

Vendoring/copying them is another way to achieve this (and means you don't need to depend on npm or its lockfiles).

Regardless, those libraries are your problem whether you vendor/copy them or not.

Read more: https://research.swtch.com/deps

Re: Show HN: Slim – Build and run tiny VMs from Dockerfiles

#95
post #50

Wait a minute. I thought Docker was useful because you didn't want to run a whole VM. But this project turns a Dockerfile into a VM specification? Have we come full circle?

Docker can replace a VM for many use-cases, but there are times when a VM is still preferable. If you find yourself in such a situation, this tool allows you to leverage declerative Dockerfiles to build your VM. Pretty handy.

Re: Show HN: Slim – Build and run tiny VMs from Dockerfiles

#96
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author of Darch here, if anyone has any questions. Here are my personal recipes: https://github.com/pauldotknopf/darch-recipes

I love that your website is “god arch[itecture].com”. Was that intentional?

lol, nope.

It was a pattern I saw with Hugo and other Go projects.

Re: Show HN: Slim – Build and run tiny VMs from Dockerfiles

#97
post #65

Why does everything in node have to have all the dependencies in the world? ``` @sindresorhus/is JSONStream ansi-regex ansi-styles archive-type argparse asn1 async balanced-match base64-js bcrypt-pbkdf bl bluebird brace-expansion buffer buffer-alloc buffer-alloc-unsafe buffer-crc32 buffer-fill buffer-from cacheable-request camelcase caw chalk chownr cliui clone-response color-convert color-name commander concat-map c…

Is it really that strange? The transitive dependency graph for my iOS and Android apps are similarly complex.

Re: Show HN: Slim – Build and run tiny VMs from Dockerfiles

#98
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yesterday a friend of mine told me about how they got a Node.js application from a vendor that was about 3 MiB, and after running npm install, it was over 1 GiB. I half-jokingly said that Node apps are the new ZIP bombs.

good luck to your friend with repeatable installations :P

"If you wish to make apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe"

- Carl Sagan

the npm ecosystem takes this quite literally, for better or worse.

Re: Show HN: Slim – Build and run tiny VMs from Dockerfiles

#100
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why was Docker needed to create a lightweight VM? I thought Docker was supposed to replace VMs.

It's a VM for Docker, not a VM using Docker.

I think it's a VM made using the Docker ecosystem (file system segregation, siloing of other dependencies to the container, etc)
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