Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Google Container Registry VS runc

Compare Google Container Registry VS runc and see what are their differences

Google Container Registry logo Google Container Registry

Google Container Registry offers private Docker image storage on Google Cloud Platform.

runc logo runc

CLI tool for spawning and running containers according to the OCI specification - opencontainers/runc
  • Google Container Registry Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30
  • runc Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-21

Google Container Registry features and specs

  • Integration with Google Cloud Platform
    Google Container Registry (GCR) is tightly integrated with the Google Cloud Platform (GCP), allowing seamless interaction with other GCP services. This integration simplifies the deployment and management of containerized applications across Google's cloud services.
  • Security Features
    GCR provides advanced security features such as vulnerability scanning, IAM-based access control, and auditing capabilities, ensuring that container images are securely managed and accessed.
  • Scalability
    The service is designed to scale effortlessly along with your workloads, providing reliable performance no matter the number of images or size of the repositories.
  • Geo-Replication
    GCR offers multi-region support, enabling geo-replication of container images. This feature ensures low-latency access to container images and improves application availability in different geographic regions.
  • Native CI/CD Support
    GCR can be integrated with popular CI/CD tools like Google Cloud Build, making it easier to automate the building, testing, and deployment of containers.

Possible disadvantages of Google Container Registry

  • Pricing Complexity
    The pricing model for GCR can be complex due to factors such as network egress and storage costs, making it difficult for some users to estimate their expenses accurately.
  • Limited Third-Party Integrations
    Compared to some other container registries, GCR might have fewer integrations with third-party tools and services, which could limit flexibility for some users.
  • Dependency on GCP
    Being inherently tied to Google Cloud Platform, users looking to operate in a multi-cloud environment may find GCR less suitable compared to more cloud-agnostic container registries.
  • Learning Curve
    Users not familiar with Google Cloud Platform may face a learning curve in understanding how to best leverage GCR, as it requires navigating GCP's broader ecosystem and tools.
  • Limited Native Support for Non-Docker Artifacts
    While Google Artifact Registry provides broader artifact support, GCR specifically focuses on Docker images, which might not meet the needs of teams looking to manage different types of artifacts.

runc features and specs

  • Standardization
    runc is part of the Open Containers Initiative (OCI), promoting standardization across container runtimes. This ensures interoperability and broad community support.
  • Lightweight
    As a lightweight and fast CLI tool, runc provides a minimal runtime for environments where resource efficiency is critical.
  • Security
    runc adheres to principles of secure software development and incorporates Linux kernel features like namespaces and cgroups to enhance security.
  • Broad Adoption
    As the reference implementation for OCI, runc is widely adopted and tested in production environments, ensuring reliability.
  • Flexibility
    runc offers the flexibility to handle low-level container configurations, making it suitable for advanced users needing granular control.

Possible disadvantages of runc

  • Complexity for Beginners
    The low-level nature of runc can be daunting for beginners who might prefer higher-level tools like Docker that abstract away complexities.
  • Minimalist Design
    While its simplicity is an advantage, runc lacks some of the advanced features and orchestration capabilities found in other container platforms.
  • Manual Configurations
    Users need to manually handle configurations, which can be error-prone and time-consuming compared to automated solutions.
  • Ecosystem Integration
    runc does not provide direct integration with tools and platforms by default, requiring additional setup for comprehensive ecosystem support.
  • Limited Features
    Compared to complete container platforms, runc offers fewer built-in features, requiring supplementary tools to achieve similar functionalities.

Google Container Registry videos

4 Connect Jenkins to google container registry. Kubernetes CI/CD course:The Ultimate English Edition

runc videos

2/21/19 RunC Vulnerability Gives Root Access on Container Systems| AT&T ThreatTraq

More videos:

  • Review - Demo MONEY,TIME - RunC

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google Container Registry and runc)
Code Collaboration
100 100%
0% 0
Web Servers
0 0%
100% 100
Git
100 100%
0% 0
Web And Application Servers

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Google Container Registry should be more popular than runc. It has been mentiond 24 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Google Container Registry mentions (24)

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runc mentions (11)

  • Setup multi node kubernetes cluster using kubeadm
    For kubeadm , kubetlet , kubectl should same version package in this lab I used v1.31 to have 1.31.7 References: Https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/networking/ports-and-protocols/ Https://kubernetes.io/docs/setup/production-environment/tools/kubeadm/install-kubeadm/ Https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/releases/... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Comparing 3 Docker container runtimes - Runc, gVisor and Kata Containers
    Previously I wrote about the multiple variants of Docker and also the dependencies behind the Docker daemon. One of the dependencies was the container runtime called runc. That is what creates the usual containers we are all familiar with. When you use Docker, this is the default runtime, which is understandable since it was started by Docker, Inc. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • You run containers, not dockers - Discussing Docker variants, components and versioning
    Now we have dockerd which uses containerd, but containerd will not create containers directly. It needs a runtime and the default runtime is runc, but that can be changed. Containerd actually doesn't have to know the parameters of the runtime. There is a shim process between containerd and runc, so containerd knows the parameters of the shim, and the shim knows the parameters of runc or other runtimes. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • US Cybersecurity: The Urgent Need for Memory Safety in Software Products
    It's interesting that, in light of things like this, you still see large software companies adding support for new components written in non-memory safe languages (e.g. C) As an example Red Hat OpenShift added support for crun(https://github.com/containers/crun), which is written in C as an alternative to runc, which is written in Go( - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Why did the Krustlet project die?
    Yeah, runtimeClass lets you specify which CRI plugin you want based on what you have available. Here's an example from the containerd documentation - you could have one node that can run containers under standard runc, gvisor, kata containers, or WASM. Without runtimeClass, you'd need either some form of custom solution or four differently configured nodes to run those different runtimes. That's how krustlet did... Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google Container Registry and runc, you can also consider the following products

Docker Hub - Docker Hub is a cloud-based registry service

Azure Container Registry - Store images for all types of container deployments and OCI artifacts, using Azure Container Registry.

Apache Thrift - An interface definition language and communication protocol for creating cross-language services.

Artifactory - The world’s most advanced repository manager.

Eureka - Eureka is a contact center and enterprise performance through speech analytics that immediately reveals insights from automated analysis of communications including calls, chat, email, texts, social media, surveys and more.

Red Hat Quay - A container image registry that provides storage and enables you to build, distribute, and deploy containers.