There may be a plurality of operative components inside an OCI standard container, though for now, two are of prime importance. The runc component is the executive — the part which makes a container functional unto itself. The second part of the puzzle, containerd acts as the part that “supervises” the lifecycle of containers, and that communicates with the outside world via API calls.
That functionality may replace the need for the continual presence of a full container engine in a production system, clearing the way for Kubernetes, Mesosphere DC/OS, and other container orchestration engines.
“With the next version of the Docker platform, developers can build and test apps destined for production directly on Kubernetes, on their workstation,” announced Docker Inc.’s Solomon Hykes last October (Hykes has since moved on from chief technology officer into the role of vice chairman).
Read more at The New Stack
