container

This is a simple container script, to make systemd-nspawn more usable. This script also adds layering capabilities using overlayfs2 (like Docker).

Usage

This script expects containers in /srv/containers (or $CONTAINER_DIR) as directories containing a config.ini file. It also uses a global config file in $CONTAINER_DIR/globalconfig.ini.

For more information on the commands, see container help and the Markdown documentation.

container list

This command lists the containers in CONTAINER_DIR with the layer types.

container boot <machine>

This command boots a container containing a machine, boots it and unmounts it when it shuts down.

container start <machine>

This command starts a container in a detached state, to be reattached with container attach <machine>.

container derive <source> <name>

This command creates a container using the source as base, with a directory layer on top.

container status [machine]

This command checks the status of a machine, or of all machines if not specified.

Installing

This script is written in MoonScript and as such requires lua and moon to be installed. It uses systemd-nspawn which is usually in the systemd-container package. It also uses screen for detached containers.

Installing on Debian and derivatives (Raspbian, Ubuntu)

sudo apt install systemd-container lua5.1 lua5.3 liblua5.1-dev liblua5.3-dev luarocks git build-essential screen
sudo luarocks install moonscript
cd /tmp
git clone https://github.com/natnat-mc/container.git
cd container
make; sudo make install; make docs