In recent years, using containers has revolutionized the whole software industry’s approach to building software. Nowadays, technologies like Docker and Podman have become the industry standard.
However, the ability to run Linux containers using LXC/LXD has been supported as a core feature of Linux since 2008.
In this light, yesterday came the news that Canonical, the company behind the widespread Linux distribution Ubuntu, is taking over the LXD project.
LXD Is Now Part of Canonical
The move taken by Canonical comes as no surprise to those who have been watching closely the development of LXD. That’s because the company has been the main contributor for the past eight years.
However, in the official announcement of the Linux Containers project, there is a hint of regret for the move.
While the team behind Linux Containers regrets that decision and will be missing LXD as one of its projects, it does respect Canonical’s decision and is now in the process of moving the project over.
What are the expectations from now on? Well, with Canonical’s expertise and resources, LXD has the potential to become the go-to solution for developers and businesses looking to harness the power of container technologies.
It looks like the company has plans to invest in the project, and coincidentally or not, in late June, Canonical released an early preview of a GUI they developed for LXD.
However, when we talk about Canonical, we should approach it with some consideration because there are only so many examples of ventures ending ingloriously under their wing. Just to mention Ubuntu One, the Mir display server, the Unity desktop environment, Upstart, etc.
Of course, we hope the project will live up to Canonical’s business expectations this time and, under their wing, will get the boost it needs.
What Next?
Initially, the current GitHub LXD repository will migrate to Canonical’s GitHub account and will be available at https://github.com/canonical/lxd. The current project page will then get a new home at https://ubuntu.com/lxd.
Moreover, the Canonical team will take over the LXD YouTube channel. At the same time, the LXD section of the Linux Containers community forum will gradually be phased out in favor of Canonical’s Ubuntu Discourse forum. And last but not least, Canonical will be in charge of the LXD CI infrastructure.
These changes are expected to happen quickly, as most things on the transition are already prepared.
So, in the coming months and years, we can expect the LXD Containers project to evolve and thrive under Canonical’s stewardship. We have to wait a bit to see if that happens.
