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In many of the Docker videos I've watched, it's said that the difference between Docker and VMs is that Docker does not require a Guest OS. At first, I bought that.. but as I started using Docker, I saw that it includes Alpine which (I think) is a linux OS. So does Docker still require an Operating System?

adamoffat
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Jiew Meng
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Container Host: Also called the Host OS. The Host OS is the operating system on which the Docker client and Docker daemon run. In the case of Linux and non-Hyper-V containers, the Host OS shares its kernel with running Docker containers. For Hyper-V each container has its own Hyper-V kernel.

Container OS: Also called the Base OS. The base OS refers to an image that contains an operating system such as Ubuntu, CentOS, or windowsservercore. Typically, you would build your own image on top of a Base OS image so that you can take utilize parts of the OS. Note that windows containers require a Base OS, while Linux containers do not.

Operating System Kernel: The Kernel manages lower level functions such as memory management, file system, network and process scheduling.

adamoffat
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    So I could start using Docker without even alpine? But what will it have inside I wonder? How might I start installing an application server for example? Does it have some form of linux and I need to compile everything else? – Jiew Meng Oct 25 '17 at 15:22
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    https://stackoverflow.com/a/16048358/8121583 This answer explains more about docker. – adamoffat Oct 25 '17 at 15:46