macOS Containers - The Rise of Native Containerization

The article explores a community initiative aimed at developing native macOS containers, which has the potential to significantly enhance continuous integration (CI) processes for macOS developers, especially those using Earthly for XCode builds. Traditionally, macOS has not supported running containers natively, unlike Linux or Windows, which has been inconvenient for developers. However, the new project, spearheaded by the developer slonopotamus, is working towards creating native macOS containers that run without a Linux VM, using shared kernel isolation rather than Linux system calls such as cgroups or namespaces. While the initiative is in its early stages and has certain limitations—such as the inability to run Linux containers, copy files, or install Xcode—the project shows promise in potentially speeding up macOS and iOS development processes. The macOS container project has already produced working base images and forks of container-related tools, inviting developers to contribute to its progression, with the hope that macOS containers will eventually be compatible with the Earthly platform for seamless functionality.