GoKawiilJack Wallen/ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
Container is a solid tool to develop for Linux on MacOS.
It deploys lightweight Linux containers on Apple silicon.
Container is a free command-line tool.
I've used all sorts of container tools over the years: Docker, Docker Desktop, Podman, Portainer… the list goes on. Most of my container work has been handled on various Linux machines, but every once in a while, I want to work with my MacBook. Either way, I've found there are always choices.
My first choice (when using my MacBook) is to SSH into a Linux machine and work from the command line. But what happens when I don't have a network available (or I'm away from my home)?
Well, there's a new version of the command-line tool for MacOS, called Container, that is just as good as the tools I've used on Linux.
Container has been around since 2025 and is a handy piece of software that allows you to create and run Linux containers as lightweight virtual machines on your MacOS Apple silicon-powered machine. The latest release of Container is optimized specifically for Apple Silicon Mac hardware. If you've ever used the Docker command-line tool, you'll feel right at home with Container.
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