Nov 3 – 5, 2023
Riga, Latvia
Europe/Riga timezone

Container craftsmanship: from a Pebble to a Rock

Nov 4, 2023, 2:00 PM
1h 30m
Beta 1 – Workshops (Radisson Blu Latvija)

Beta 1 – Workshops

Radisson Blu Latvija

2
Workshop (1.5 Hours) Application Ecosystem

Speaker

Cristovao Cordeiro
Canonical

Description

Join us for an immersive hands-on workshop focused on Rockcraft and rocks! During this hands-on experience, you will learn the fundamental concepts behind rocks, while actively engaging in practical exercises guided by the instructor.

There will be a variety of rock challenges to choose from, ranging from basic images to complex and multidisciplinary use cases, catering to individuals with diverse skill levels. So everyone is welcome to join, from absolute beginners to seasoned crafters.

During the workshop, you will explore the rocks’ OCI layout and the Pebble-based entrypoint. Additionally, you will also become familiar with the most essential operations of the Rockcraft CLI and gain proficiency in its YAML syntax. The workshop will also encompass complementary techniques for optimizing and managing rocks, including package slicing.

By the end of the workshop, you will have the necessary knowledge to build rocks autonomously and maybe even get the chance to propose some of your work upstream and become an official contributor.

In this workshop, you will learn…

  1. what a rock is;
  2. how Pebble works;
  3. what Rockcraft is;
  4. how to install Rockcraft and other useful tools like Chisel;
  5. different approaches towards building rocks: standard vs baseless vs chiselled builds;
  6. how to build a rock;
  7. how to inspect and run a rock with Docker;
  8. how to install deb package slices into a rock;
  9. how to slice a package.

What to expect

The authors will conduct the workshop in an interactive manner, allowing for ample time for you to engage in hands-on experimentation before demonstrating the solutions.

Akin to the energy and collaborative spirit of a hackathon, everything will be live, so we encourage you to actively exchange thoughts and ideas, fostering an environment where you may even consider pairing with other participants for tackling the provided exercises.

Minimum Requirements

The workshop is designed to accommodate participants with diverse skill levels. Nonetheless, to make the most of this workshop and be able to engage with the exercises, you should:

  • have an Ubuntu workstation,
    • using an Ubuntu VM is also possible,
    • we recommend using a recent version of Ubuntu, preferably Ubuntu 22.04,
    • have snapd enabled in your system (https://snapcraft.io),
    • ensure LXD is installed (https://linuxcontainers.org/lxd/getting-started-cli/),
    • Docker installed (https://snapcraft.io/docker or Docker's official docs),
    • a text editor,
  • be comfortable around a Linux terminal,
  • have a basic understanding of shell scripting,
  • bookmark the repo https://github.com/cjdcordeiro/pebble-to-rock-workshop,
  • be familiar with deb packages and snaps.

Session author's bio

Cristovao (aka Cris) is an Engineering Manager@Canonical, ex-CERN engineer, with 10+ years of experience in Cloud and Edge computing. With an MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cristovao started his career as a Computing Engineer, integrating Cloud Computing resources into the largest computing grid in the world, the WLCG. Throughout the years, Cristovao became more and more focused on containers and how to integrate them with the whole spectrum of computing, from the Cloud to the Edge. Nowadays, Cristovao is managing a team of container experts who are responsible for the building of stellar container images, including the beloved official Ubuntu container image.

Level of Difficulty Intermediate

Presentation materials