Hi everyone, I'm the guy featured in this article. Now that the dust is settling I thought I might answer a few of the most frequent questions.<p>> <i>So what does Docker actually do?</i><p>Thanks for asking!<p>From the project homepage: <i>Docker is an open-source project to easily create lightweight, portable, self-sufficient containers from any application. The same container that a developer builds and tests on a laptop can run at scale, in production, on VMs, bare metal, OpenStack clusters, public clouds and more.</i><p>There's a nice high-level overview on <a href="http://www.docker.io/learn_more/" rel="nofollow">http://www.docker.io/learn_more/</a> , and a really cool interactive tutorial on <a href="http://www.docker.io/gettingstarted/" rel="nofollow">http://www.docker.io/gettingstarted/</a><p>I also encourage you to join the IRC channel (#docker on freenode). It's extremely active and the people there are super nice. They will get you up to speed in no time!<p>> <i>Why is the press talking about Docker when the kernel developers did all the real work?</i><p>Press coverage is not a zero-sum game. Does it hurt Linux and its developers when Docker gets attention? Or does it further establish Linux as the ubiquitous software infrastructure that it is?<p>There's no question that Docker wouldn't be possible (or would be much less useful anyway) without the work of countless kernel hackers who implemented and hardened namespacing and control groups. We also owe a lot to Junjiro Okajima, the author of AUFS. I don't believe we're doing any of these people a disservice by building cool stuff on top of their code, open-sourcing all of it, and getting a lot more people excited about the combined result.<p>> <i>How do I buy an article like this on Wired?</i><p>That's not how press works. Based on my experience, here's how to get quality press coverage.<p>First build something people want. As more people use it and express their excitement, journalists will take notice. They will then contact you for details and if they like what they hear they will write a story.<p>> <i>I was going to try Docker, but it's so hyped now that it doesn't seem legit anymore</i><p>Really? This reaction makes me so, so sad.<p>Speaking on behalf of everyone who has contributed to Docker in one way or the other. <i>ALL WE ASK</i> is that you evaluate the project based on its merits, instead of how fashionable it is.<p>Tell me you hit a bug. Tell me it doesn't solve a real problem for you. Tell me the documentation isn't clear, or the code is not clean. But for the love of god, don't tell me your criticism of a project is that it's <i>too</i> popular, and therefore no longer a trendy thing to use. Please tell me that is not what the hacker community has come to.
Can someone explain how a little wrapper around LXC gets major magazine articles and hype, whereas the people who've been doing the real hard work for years get no attention at all?
How do startups cope with pressure to perform? The pressure must be immense on the dotCloud/Docker folks. They have been active on HN responding to questions and comments, but having such publicity, Wired and HN driving traffic and questions, on non-production/beta software (docker) must be hard. I guess you just keep going like you always do.<p>In several of my personal project, I have noticed that once you have a following, you try to keep the standards up and only release quality, things start to take longer, and longer, because you do not want to let anyone down. I have felt real pressure to perform, and my projects are not anywhere near their level!
Can someone explain, briefly, how Docker works? It seems to be getting an increasing amount of buzz lately and I'd like to understand what's going on. All I hear is how you can wrap software in a container that will run anywhere -- not a very helpful explanation. Docker's own website is surprisingly light on specifics... all I know after reading it is that it will, indeed, run almost anywhere! (but how?)
I don't get it. I don't see how Docker makes service management any easier than using a plain ol' VM. The steps involved feel about the same to me.