Open-source alternatives to Boot2docker

microvm.nix is a declarative virtual machine manager and orchestrator for defining, building, and managing isolated guest environments using Nix. It functions as a virtual machine image builder that transforms system specifications into bootable disk images and runner scripts. The project provides a hypervisor abstraction layer, enabling the deployment of guest images across multiple virtualization backends through a unified configuration. It includes specialized tools for PCI hardware passthrough, granting virtual machines direct access to physical host USB and PCI devices. The framework co

LXD is a unified platform for managing both system containers and virtual machines through a single REST API and command-line interface. It provides a programmatic HTTP interface for controlling the full lifecycle of instances, enabling automation and integration with external tools. The system runs unprivileged containers with per-instance UID/GID mappings, seccomp filters, and AppArmor profiles for kernel-level isolation, while supporting multiple storage backends including directory, Btrfs, LVM, ZFS, Ceph, LINSTOR, and TrueNAS through a unified driver interface. The platform distinguishes

microsandbox is a platform that runs untrusted code inside hardware-isolated microVMs, each with its own kernel, filesystem, and network stack. It boots directly from standard OCI container images, supports copy-on-write filesystem layers, and integrates with AI agents to execute tool calls and generated code in isolated environments with secret protection. What sets microsandbox apart is its host-side network proxy that enforces firewall rules, intercepts DNS, inspects TLS traffic, and injects secrets at the network boundary without exposing them inside the VM. It provides SSH access to micr

Cloud Hypervisor is a Rust-based hypervisor and KVM virtual machine monitor designed to execute 64-bit guest operating systems. It functions as a user-space virtual machine manager that employs a minimal emulation layer to reduce memory overhead and latency for cloud workloads. The project distinguishes itself through the use of a memory-safe language to implement a virtio device emulator and a user-space device model. It provides a standardized web API for managing virtual machine lifecycles and resource configurations. The platform covers broad virtualization capabilities, including the em

This project serves as a documentation hub and specification repository for official Docker images. It functions as a metadata-driven documentation generator that transforms structured content files into markdown files and readmes for public distribution. The repository provides technical guides and configuration standards for deploying containerized software across multiple CPU architectures. It includes detailed manuals for configuring environment variables, volume mounts, and network settings to ensure consistent image deployments. The documentation covers a broad range of containerized e

This project is a technical setup guide for installing and configuring Docker within a Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 environment. It serves as a walkthrough for creating a virtualized Linux workspace on Windows to build and run software with native performance. The guide focuses on integrating container engines for isolated application deployment and establishing a cross-platform workflow. It provides instructions for linking external code editors to the subsystem, running graphical Linux applications on the host, and executing host binaries within the Linux terminal. It covers the managemen

TWiLightMenu is a retro gaming frontend and game launcher for Nintendo DS hardware. It serves as a custom firmware tool and a unified interface for launching native games, emulated ROMs, and homebrew applications, while also functioning as a cheat manager and handheld storage manager. The project features a custom theme engine that allows for the personalization of the visual interface through custom images, fonts, and coordinate sets, as well as the use of custom boot splash screens and system audio. It distinguishes itself through a modular extension system that supports third-party plugins

This project provides containerized images for deploying a self-managed content collaboration and file sharing server. It enables the creation of private cloud storage and self-hosted file synchronization environments, allowing users to maintain data ownership and control over their infrastructure. The deployment model utilizes Docker images to simplify installation, scaling, and version updates. It distinguishes itself through a database-agnostic storage approach, supporting integration with PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, or SQLite, and employs volume mapping to ensure data persistence across c

This is the official documentation repository for Raspberry Pi hardware and software. It covers the complete range of Raspberry Pi single-board computers, the RP-series microcontrollers, and the Raspberry Pi operating system. The documentation provides reference material for setting up devices, configuring hardware, and using the system for tasks including AI inference, camera and video capture, embedded development, and remote access. The documentation covers the full boot chain from the GPU firmware and EEPROM bootloader through to kernel loading, with detailed guidance on boot configuratio

This project provides specialized system utilities for deploying volatile rescue environments, managing root filesystems, and migrating live operating systems remotely. It functions as a tool for wiping and reinstalling a Linux system via SSH and serving as a remote OS migration tool. The software enables the deployment of an in-memory rescue environment over SSH to perform emergency maintenance and disk modifications. It allows for the unmounting of root filesystems and the detachment of volumes from a live kernel to facilitate repartitioning and filesystem layout changes without requiring a

ssh2 is a JavaScript implementation of the SSH2 protocol for Node.js, providing the core components necessary to create secure clients and servers. It enables the establishment of authenticated sessions for remote server automation and secure communication. The project distinguishes itself by providing a complete suite of tools for identity management, including utilities for generating and parsing cryptographic key pairs and integrating with external authentication agents. It also functions as a tunneling proxy capable of routing TCP, HTTP, X11, and SOCKSv5 network traffic through encrypted

netboot.xyz is a network-based system management platform that enables automated operating system deployment and remote system maintenance. By leveraging iPXE and standard network protocols like DHCP and TFTP, it provides a centralized infrastructure for booting installers and utility tools directly over a local network. The system is designed to facilitate unattended installations and live environment execution, allowing users to manage hardware without the need for physical installation media. The project distinguishes itself through a highly flexible, template-driven approach to boot menu

This project is a containerized build automation system and self-hosted DevOps platform provided as a Docker image. It serves as a distributed build orchestrator and a Dockerized continuous integration and delivery server, ensuring consistent execution environments across different infrastructure. The system distinguishes itself through a distributed execution model that separates a primary controller from multiple remote agents connected via SSH, TCP, or web sockets. It utilizes a modular extensibility framework that allows the core system functionality to be augmented through the installati

SSH.NET is a .NET library that implements the SSH-2 protocol for encrypted remote connections and secure file transfers. It provides a complete SSH-2 protocol stack implementation with a channel multiplexing engine that manages multiple concurrent channels over a single connection, supporting simultaneous shell sessions, remote command execution, SFTP transfers, and port forwarding tunnels. The library includes a pluggable authentication pipeline supporting password, public key, certificate, keyboard-interactive, and multi-factor authentication combinations. The library distinguishes itself t

Dockerode is a Node.js library that provides programmatic management of Docker containers, images, and volumes by acting as a wrapper for the Docker Remote API. It enables JavaScript applications to interact with a Docker engine via Unix sockets or TCP network interfaces. The project covers container lifecycle management, including launching instances and executing commands with bidirectional input and output streaming. It also provides capabilities for building container images, pulling images from registries, and configuring virtual networks. Additional functionality includes the coordinat

Winapps is a virtualization bridge that allows Windows applications to run on a Linux desktop as if they were native. It uses the Remote Desktop Protocol to stream individual application windows from a background virtual machine or remote server, avoiding the need for a full virtual machine window. The system identifies installed software by scanning the guest registry to automatically generate native desktop shortcuts and icons. It integrates these applications into the local desktop environment, including the mapping of executables to desktop entries and the configuration of file manager co

Shuttle is a macOS menu bar application that serves as an SSH shortcut menu and terminal command orchestrator. It allows users to launch remote server connections and execute shell scripts through a persistent status bar interface. The utility parses system SSH configuration files to create a navigable menu of remote servers. It organizes these hosts into hierarchical nested menus using path-based identifiers to group servers and environments. The application manages terminal automation by dispatching shell commands to a preferred terminal emulator. It supports custom command definitions wit

Vagrant is a virtual machine environment manager and infrastructure as code tool used to create and configure consistent development environments. It acts as a virtual machine provisioner and hypervisor abstraction layer, allowing users to define machine specifications and automate software installation on guest systems via declarative configuration files. The project enables cross-hypervisor orchestration by decoupling the command interface from specific virtualization backends. It ensures environment consistency through the distribution of pre-configured machine images and the orchestration

This project provides a complete OpenVPN server deployment packaged as a Docker container, with an integrated EasyRSA certificate authority for automated public-key infrastructure management. It handles the full lifecycle of a VPN server, from initial PKI bootstrap and server configuration generation to client certificate issuance and revocation, all within a containerized environment. The server is configured entirely through Docker environment variables, eliminating the need for manual configuration file editing. It supports time-based one-time password (TOTP) authentication as a second fac

This is an educational training course that teaches Docker, Compose, Swarm, and Kubernetes for building and deploying containers from development to production. The course covers end-to-end Docker-based workflows for building, testing, and deploying containers using Compose, Swarm, and Kubernetes in cloud-native DevOps pipelines. The material covers architecture patterns for containerized applications, including declarative service orchestration, network bridging, image layering, health monitoring, and persistent storage across Docker and Kubernetes environments. It addresses multi-container

Homestead is a virtual machine provisioner that creates a standardized PHP development environment. It provides a disposable development workspace that isolates project dependencies and server tools from the host operating system, using Vagrant to orchestrate the machine lifecycle. The system functions as a local site orchestrator, allowing users to map custom domains to specific project folders through virtual host routing and network port forwarding. It includes a dedicated local mail testing tool that intercepts outgoing application emails in a dashboard for inspection without sending them

This project provides a customized Linux kernel and driver suite designed to enable hardware compatibility for Surface devices. It focuses on building and patching the Linux kernel to provide driver support for proprietary hardware components that are missing from the upstream source. The system includes a secure boot kernel signing mechanism and a process for enrolling custom keys into the system firmware. This allows the execution of patched kernels while maintaining system security protections. The project covers peripheral driver support for touchscreens, styluses, and keyboards, as well

Tools to set up a quick macOS VM in QEMU, accelerated by KVM.

Wetty is an HTTP browser terminal emulator that provides shell access over HTTP and HTTPS connections. It functions as a web-based remote shell and SSH browser gateway, allowing users to execute shell commands on remote hosts directly within a web browser. The project integrates SAML2 identity propagation to authenticate users through external providers and map those web identities to system accounts. It also supports embedding the terminal interface within iframes for integration into other web applications or dashboards. The system covers remote server administration and secure terminal pr

Nexterm is a centralized management platform for remote server administration, providing a web-based gateway for SSH, VNC, and RDP connections. It serves as a unified interface for managing remote server connectivity, secure access control, and server resource monitoring. The platform integrates a Docker container orchestrator and a virtualization management console to control LXC and QEMU containers. It features an identity gateway that supports OpenID Connect single sign-on and two-factor authentication, alongside an SFTP file manager for remote file transfer and organization. The system i

This project is a collection of pre-configured Docker images that provide ready-to-run environments for interactive computing and data science. It functions as a scientific computing stack and a polyglot notebook server, bundling language interpreters and libraries for Python, R, and Julia within a containerized system to ensure reproducible research environments. The collection uses a layered image hierarchy to provide versioned software dependencies and support for hardware acceleration across different CPU architectures. It allows for the creation of custom images based on a foundation of

Lima is a virtualization engine designed to provision and manage lightweight Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD virtual machines. It functions as a comprehensive virtual machine manager that leverages native hypervisors and system emulation to provide isolated environments for container development, cross-architecture testing, and secure sandboxing. The project distinguishes itself through its template-driven provisioning system, which allows users to define and automate environment configurations via local files or remote URL schemes. It integrates deeply with host systems by providing automated file