OpenShift Origin is a Kubernetes distribution platform that extends Kubernetes with integrated security, multi-tenancy, and application lifecycle management for enterprise container orchestration. It functions as a multi-tenant container orchestrator that enforces per-project security policies, resource quotas, and SELinux isolation for shared cluster environments.
The platform includes a Source-to-Image builder that creates container images directly from application source code using Dockerfiles or buildpacks without external build servers, and an Operator Lifecycle Manager that installs and manages platform operators from a curated catalog. It provides an OpenShift Conformance Test Suite that validates Kubernetes and OpenShift API compliance across cluster deployments and upgrades.
The system supports building container images from source, managing image lifecycles with streams, deploying Kubernetes clusters, running local development clusters, and installing operators from a catalog. It includes capabilities for monitoring cluster and application health, provisioning isolated projects with predefined controls, exposing services via public routes, controlling container privileges with security contexts, and enforcing multi-tenant security policies.