Merge pull request #4152 from mheon/move_deriv_api

Move derivitive doc so it won't be treated as a manpage

1 files changed, 44 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/docs/tutorials/podman-derivative-api.md b/docs/tutorials/podman-derivative-api.md
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+# How to use libpod for custom/derivative projects
+
+libpod today is a Golang library and a CLI.  The choice of interface you make has advantages and disadvantages.
+
+Running as a subprocess
+---
+
+Advantages:
+
+ - Many commands output JSON
+ - Works with languages other than Golang
+ - Easy to get started
+
+Disadvantages:
+
+ - Error handling is harder
+ - May be slower
+ - Can't hook into or control low-level things like how images are pulled
+
+Vendoring into a Go project
+---
+
+Advantages:
+
+ - Significant power and control
+
+Disadvantages:
+
+ - You are now on the hook for container runtime security updates (partially, `runc`/`crun` are separate)
+ - Binary size
+ - Potential skew between multiple libpod versions operating on the same storage can cause problems
+
+Varlink
+---
+
+Some code exists for this; splits the difference.  Future uncertain.
+
+Making the choice
+---
+
+A good question to ask first is: Do you want users to be able to use `podman` to manipulate the containers created by your project?
+If so, that makes it more likely that you want to run `podman` as a subprocess.  If you want a separate image store and a fundamentally
+different experience; if what you're doing with containers is quite different from those created by the `podman` CLI,
+that may drive you towards vendoring.
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