Frequently Asked Questions
This document is WIP. Please, stay tuned.
What's this Base Runtime thing anyway?
Base Runtime is a name for the module or collection of modules that provide the minimum system runtime environment needed for the system to boot and for other modules that rely on C runtime libraries to run. What exactly would be included in this or these modules is a subject for debate but it's expected Base Runtime would include, at the bare minimum, packages such as kernel, glibc and libgcc.
Base Runtime would be the foundation of virtually every system, be it a bare metal installation, a virtual machine or a container.
Does it mean that every container would contain a copy of the kernel and that every VM would ship with all the kernel drivers available?
Nope, it does not. Software being included in a module doesn't mean it has to be installed in every scenario. Which components will be included in an installation is decided by the so-called installation profiles.
Containers don't need a kernel and VMs don't need bare metal drivers. Live media images might also have special needs. Modules may define arbitrary number of installation profiles. These will be used by installation and compose tooling, and selected depending on the use case or user configuration.