New RancherOS Offers Lean Linux Functionality Within Docker Containers (rancher.com)
RancherOS is a lean Linux distribution aiming to offer "the minimum necessary to get Docker up and running," and tucking many actual Linux services into Docker containers.
An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes Distrowatch:
Josh Curl has announced the release of a new version of RancherOS [which] moves the project out of its alpha status and introduces new features, including an official Raspberry Pi image... "We're especially excited about this since it offers users a cheap method of getting started with Docker and RancherOS."
Docker is a freeze dried VM with mappable ports and filesystem. It runs on several OSs on various platforms. I'm not sure what its killer feature is. It isn't just the ability to include libs with your program - it's a way to include the entire OS with your program - with all the libs and whatever else you need.
Things I do with docker:
* get rid of RVM/rbenv, NVM, and all those other version managers. Just fire up a docker container with the version of ruby/node/whaterver you want
* package up services for deployment (web apps in my case) and toss the image to devops/IT to deploy
* test tools/software I'm not familiar with - not sure if you want to install latest? fire up a docker container and take it for a spin. And when you're done testing, maybe just continue using the container.
* run things on platforms that don't support them. Want to run redis on windows? docker container. Want to run git hubflow on windows without installing extra stuff? docker container.