“Containers Aren’t Linux Processes”
TL;DR Per OCI Runtime Specification:
- Containers are isolated and restricted boxes for running processes 📦
- Containers pack an app and all its dependencies (including OS libs) together
- Containers are for portability - any compliant runtime can run standard containers
- Containers can be implemented using Linux, Windows, and other OS-es
- Virtual Machines also can be used as standard containers 🤐
The general concept of the container is quite vague. What’s true and what’s not often depends on the context, but the context itself isn’t always given explicitly. For instance, there is a common saying that containers are Linux processes or that containers aren’t Virtual Machines. However, the first statement is just an oversimplified attempt to explain Linux containers. And the second statement simply isn’t always true.
https://iximiuz.com/en/posts/oci-containers/