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Merge pull request #16 from parke/devel
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Updated readme.md.  Added mention of vland.
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parke authored Dec 31, 2021
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Expand Up @@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ Lxroot is a lightweight alternative to chroot, Docker, and other software virtua

Lxroot allows a non-root user to quickly and easily create a "chroot-style" virtual software environment (via Linux namespaces), and then run one or more programs (a "guest userland") inside that environment.

**[[ -- Update December 2021 --** If you are interested in Lxroot, I recommend that you also look at **[my `vland` project](https://github.com/parke/vland)**. `vland` is a high-level convenience wrapper around Lxroot. `vland` is the easiest way to start using Lxroot. **-- ]]**

For example, with Lxroot a non-root user can...

- simultaneously run multiple, different guest userlands on a single Linux host
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -200,12 +202,12 @@ You may also wish to look at the `demo.sh` file.

Below is the output of `lxroot --help-more`:

usage: lxroot [[mode] newroot] [options] [--] [command [arg ...] ]
usage: lxroot [mode] newroot [options] [-- command [arg ...]]

options
-short one or more short options
--long-option a long option
n=v set an environment variable
name=value set an environment variable
[mode] newroot set and bind the newroot
[mode] path bind a full or partial overlay
'src' [mode] path set the source for partial overlays
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -402,41 +404,69 @@ Below is the output of `lxroot --help-more`:
COMMAND

The command-option specifies the command that will be executed inside
the lxroot environment.
the lxroot environment. The command-option must be preceded by '--'.

If no command is specified, lxroot will attempt to find and execute an
interactive shell inside the lxroot environment.

Note the following lexical ambiguity: a path-like argument may specify
either (a) an overlay option or (b) the command option.

lxroot resolves this ambiguity by looking for a directory at the path.
If a directory exists, lxroot interprets the path as an overlay option.
If no such directory exists, lxroot interprets the path as a command.

Note that lxroot does not verify that the command actually exists
inside newroot. If the command does not exist, then the call to
exec() will will fail and lxroot will exit with status 1.

To force a path to be interpreted as a command, proceed the path with
the option '--'.

### Other software virtualization tools

For reference, here is a partial list of some other software virtualization tools, in approximate(?) order from lightest to heaviest:
- `chroot`
- `unshare`
- Lxroot
- Proot
- Firejail
- Bubblewrap (Flatpak)
- LXC / LXD
- podman.io
- udocker
- Docker
- Bubblejail (requires Python)

Apparently unmaintained?

- Fakeroot-ng
- sydbox

| Virtualization tool | Language | Approximate SLOC | Dependencies | Static binary |
| --- | :-: | --- | --- | :-: |
| `chroot` | C | 370 (plus various includes) | gnulib, other parts of coreutils | |
| `unshare` | C | 620 (plus various includes) | other parts of util-linux? | |
| **Lxroot** | C++ | 1,400 | standard libraries only | 169 kB |
| bubblewrap (Flatpak) | C | 4,200 | standard libraries only? | |
| Bubblejail | Python | 2,700 + bubblewrap | Python + bubblewrap (and more?) | |
| PRoot | C | 21,000 | libarchive, libtalloc, uthash(?) | 1,046 kB |
| udocker | Python | 21,000 | Python + more | |
| Firejail | C | 43,000 | (possibly none?) | |
| Singularity | Go | 72,000 | (not yet researched) | |
| LXC | C | 77,000 | (not yet researched) | |
| LXD | Go | 190,000 | (not yet researched) | |
| podman.io | Go | 1,100,000 | (not yet researched) | |
| Docker | Go | 10,000,000 | (not yet researched) | |
| OpenVZ | C | custom Linux kernel | requires a custom Linux kernel | |

Sources:
* **[chroot](https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/coreutils.html)**
[sloc](https://github.com/coreutils/coreutils/blob/master/src/chroot.c)
[deps](https://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/)
* **[unshare](https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/util-linux/util-linux.git)**
[sloc](https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/blob/master/sys-utils/unshare.c)
* **[Lxroot](https://github.com/parke/lxroot)**
static
* **[bubblewrap](https://github.com/containers/bubblewrap)**
[sloc](https://github.com/containers/bubblewrap)
[openhub](https://www.openhub.net/p/bwrap)
* **[Bubblejail](https://github.com/igo95862/bubblejail)**
[sloc](https://github.com/igo95862/bubblejail/tree/master/bubblejail)
* **[PRoot](https://proot-me.github.io/)**
[sloc](https://www.openhub.net/p/proot)
[deps](https://github.com/proot-me/proot#dependencies)
[static](https://github.com/proot-me/proot/releases)
* **[udocker](https://github.com/indigo-dc/udocker)**
[sloc](https://www.openhub.net/p/udocker)
[deps](https://indigo-dc.github.io/udocker/installation_manual.html#1-dependencies)
[more deps](https://indigo-dc.github.io/udocker/installation_manual.html#6-external-tools-and-libraries)
* **[Firejail](https://firejail.wordpress.com/)**
[sloc](https://www.openhub.net/p/firejail)
* **[LXC](https://linuxcontainers.org/)**
[sloc](https://www.openhub.net/p/lxc)
* **[LXD](https://linuxcontainers.org/)**
[sloc](https://www.openhub.net/p/lxd)
* **[Podman](https://podman.io/)**
[sloc](https://www.openhub.net/p/podman)
* **[Docker](https://www.docker.com/)**
[sloc](https://www.openhub.net/p/docker)
* **[OpenVZ](https://openvz.org/)**

### Possibly also of interest

* **[binctr](https://github.com/genuinetools/binctr)** as [mentioned by bubblewrap](https://github.com/containers/bubblewrap#related-project-comparison-runcbinctr)
* **[fakeroot-ng](https://fakeroot-ng.lingnu.com/)**
* **[runc](https://github.com/opencontainers/runc)** as [mentioned by bubblewrap](https://github.com/containers/bubblewrap#related-project-comparison-runcbinctr)
* **[Sandstorm](https://sandstorm.io/)** as [mentioned by bubblewrap](https://github.com/containers/bubblewrap#related-project-comparison-sandstormio)
* **[sydbox](https://pink.exherbo.org/)** at [sr.ht](https://sr.ht/~alip/sydbox/), [github mirror](), [legacy homepage?](https://sydbox.exherbo.org/)

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