[libvirt-users] libvirt-lxc

[Mark Clarkson]

Hi,
I noticed that libvirt-lxc will be deprecated for RedHat:

"Future development on the Linux containers framework is now based on 
the docker command-line interface. libvirt-lxc tooling may be removed in 
a future release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (including Red Hat 
Enterprise Linux 7) and should not be relied upon for developing custom 
container management applications." - 
https://access.redhat.com/articles/1365153

And CentOS:

"further deprecated packages: libvirt-daemon-driver-lxc, 
libvirt-daemon-lxc and libvirt-login-shell " - 
http://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS7

And LXC support from linuxcontainers.org is poor for RedHat/CentOS:

"... Also Cgmanager which is currently not available on CentOS 7. So 
cannot support unprivileged containers and thus LXD. Systemd based 
containers need at least LXC 1.1, lxcfs and related dependencies that 
are not available on CentOS. ... For a stable, seamless and smooth 
experience we suggest either Debian Wheezy with Flockport packages or 
Ubuntu Trusty. ..." - 
https://www.flockport.com/lxc-and-lxd-support-across-distributions/

It seems that the only way for me to use LXC containers on CentOS/RedHat 
is to use Docker, which I am not particularly happy about since, as I 
understand it, Docker and libvirt-lxc/linuxcontainers.org-lxc are for 
different use cases, with their own pros and cons, for example:
"Why use LXD? ... Full operating system functionality within containers, 
not just single processes ..." - http://www.ubuntu.com/cloud/tools/lxd

There are many uses for full containers within build, server management, 
testing, etc. where quickly creating containers that look, 'feel' and 
act just like real servers is beneficial, and far cheaper (in many ways) 
and more versatile than fully virtualised machines or docker containers.

I have just discovered libvirt-lxc and found that it works well on both 
Ubuntu and RedHat, and is designed to be integrated into tooling, which 
is exactly what I need.

I considered Runc before libvirt, but libvirt is so versatile, allowing 
me to use other technologies such as qemu/kvm, and with its rich API, 
that I would prefer to use libvirt - it would allow me the most options 
for change in the future and seemed like a 'no-brainer' until I saw the 
deprecation announcement.

Will libvirt-lxc be dropped from libvirt?

Will there be an alternative for a similar container based use-case (as 
in requiring a full machine) on RedHat?

Best Regards
Mark Clarkson