compose support?

[magnusviri]

Will you be creating a tool that allows users to use docker_compose.yml files?

See https://docs.docker.com/compose/.

[awilfox]

Yes, I would also love to see Compose support for container. Is this something that would accepted as a contribution?

[ttys3]

just found a impl https://github.com/mcrich23/container-compose

[bergrahm]

I am a heavy-weight compose user. Having the option to drop and replace would dramatically increase the chance for me to adopt this tool without hassle. Great work by the way!

[codedoga]

+1

[psy0rz]

Without compose support i will just keep using docker desktop for now. What would be the advantage of this new system?

[ArquitetoMovel]

I'm using the https://orbstack.dev it also is made in swift and not use vm

[66Ton99]

https://orbstack.dev/ uses VM underhood

[koi-tattoo]

I've rolled up a script to emulate some functionalities of docker-compose https://gist.github.com/koi-tattoo/1decd7f52f55ddb902e8a9eb78f8c587.
I mostly generated it through claude 4 sonnet as I was just trying to have something working fast. It managed to up this compose file https://gist.github.com/koi-tattoo/5f91de153768865d6d29f3773564a75d decently, maybe you guys can try to use it to easily test apple containers through your already established compose files.

Edit: see the issue docker/compose/issues/12934, maybe it is on docker-compose's end to implement this feature.

[ralfkrause]

I’ll test it and will give an update here.

[ralfkrause]

The scripts does the main things.
During up volumes if not defined with type bind are skipped. Giving error message 'named volumes...'.
During down I got the error message that the container could not be deleted. But that's just because they are getting started with option --rm. But that's no big deal.
Setting the hostname of the container is not supported. But that's because it's not supported by Apples container system. At least not at the moment.
It's the same as the container name.
Traffic between container of the same multi container project does not work when using the hostname of the container. But there is no problem when using the IP address.

But far from that all I tested works.

[t3chn0m4g3]

yes, compose is the peanut-butter and jelly!

[psy0rz]

Dont get me wrong its super cool apple does this!

[bgottsch]

+1

some integration pointers:

• naming: container compose?
• load balancers like Traefik as a container

[llmons]

+1

[pszymkowiak]

+1

[dmatton]

+1

[koi-tattoo]

According to docker/compose#12934, it could be done if the apple container runtime supports the Moby API (https://github.com/moby/moby/blob/master/api/README.md)

[mani-arjunan]

+1

[tarikweiss]

+1

[EugeneBad]

+1E6

[youvegotmoxie]

+1 to obnoxiously spam everyone subscribed to this issue.

Seriously, we don't need 900 +1 replies.

[Mcrich23]

It truly feels to me like a community project. I do not work for Apple, but have had conversations with Apple employees about container via Issues and also had a few PRs merged.

I think they want to do what is best for the community and are very willing to review PRs made by the community.

[TimDiekmann]

Well, in any case, it would be very helpful if Apple would at least respond to this discussion. One of the options — "Not planned," "Planned, but not prioritized," or "In development" — would already be very helpful for the community. Additionally, if they would accept open-source contributions to this topic, that would be great.

If I were to guess, this is somewhat on their radar, but they don’t know what to do about it yet. (Even if they would communicate this it would be super helpful!)

[flindeberg]

@TimDiekmann The entire container framework here is open-source (I'm unsure about all the swift components this repo references, I guess quite a bit of them are closed-source), I guess you can just contribute changes compliant the compose-specification if you are so inclined?

The compose specification is available here: https://www.compose-spec.io/

[Mcrich23]

#239 and #398 exist and reference this discussion at @jglogan’s request so they are definitely aware of it.

My understanding on the current situation is a combination of breaking API changes every update and lack of support for certain features making Apple less confident of shipping an only partially supported service.

Luckily, if #717 is merged into main, we can write a version of compose that just ultimately translates commands and has Swift Argument Parser translate them. This guards against API changes and makes implementing new features within a command slightly easier.

[jglogan]

@ebesirik I meant to reply to this a while back but we've been juggling a lot of things the past couple months so I apologize about the delay. I'm hoping now we can devote a bit more time to the community for this project and work through the issue and PR backlog.

Regarding Compose, take a look at the projects that @Mcrich23 and @youroldmangaming have put together. The documentation isn't there but container is structured so that developers can create their own CLI plugins to provide subcommands for compose or anything else.

Have a look at the discussions the @Mcrich23 linked for the reasons why nothing's been upstreamed yet for Compose, and why we as maintainers aren't actively working on it. Compose consists of a vast number of features, and it's definitely something that shouldn't just be YOLO'ed into the project.

Your question about "what kind of repo is this" is a really good one. We definitely want to build a community of developers and users who are passionate about improving the quality and capabilities of container. The project is still only a handful of months old though, so we're still learning about how best to do that!

[musikov]

+1 to previous comment

[stivens]

+1

Without compose this app is kinda useless and we are forced to use alternatives. It is a critical and must-have feature.

[youroldmangaming]

https://github.com/youroldmangaming/Apple_Container_Compose

…

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[hulleyrob]

Can you do a pull request and get this merged into the main repo?

I don't know about everyone else but I will not use third party repos from "some guy on the internet"™️ as I cannot be sure of their intentions so until compose support appears in the main repo then container is still not something I am willing to use.

[stivens]

Agree. Why would anyone choose this over proven tools like Colima or Podman? Makes absolutely no sense.

[hulleyrob]

+1 for built in compose support so that I can actually use this.

[RedAtman]

+1

[jglogan]

@Mcrich23 @youroldmangaming Have you looked much at this yet?

https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/tag/v5.0.0-rc.1

[Mcrich23]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention! I have not had a chance yet.

[ruperthair]

https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/tag/v5.0.0-rc.1

How does this help, please? I don't see a mention of containerctl or Apple container support in the changelog, but I would be very happy to have missed something.

[jay-dizzale]

My assumption was, that docker-compose is now providing a documented SDK. This way you don't need to reimplement parts of docker-compose or have a thin wrapper like podman-compose.

[joaoh9]

+1

[thoerdo]

+1

[hamza-m-masood]

+1

[zhuoyang]

+1

[xdaniel3]

+1

[miko866]

+1

[iperezx]

+10000
I don't mind doing testing if they need people for testing the feature

[martinborgman]

+1