Project: Sysbox (Runtime / Container Runtime)
File: distro-compat.md

The following table summarizes the supported Linux distros, the installation methods supported, and any other requirements: | Distro / Release | Package Install | K8s Install | Build from Source | Min Kernel | Shiftfs Required | Other | | | :-: | :: | :: | :--: | :--: | -- | | Ubuntu Bionic (18.04) | | | | 5.3+ | If kernel < 5.12 | | | Ubuntu Focal (20.04) | | | | 5.4+ | If kernel < 5.12 | | | Ubuntu Jammy (22.04) | | | | 5.15+ | No (but recommended if kernel < 5.19) | | | Debian Buster (10) | | WIP | | 5.5+ | If kernel < 5.12 | | | Debian Bullseye (11) | | WIP | | 5.5+ | If kernel < 5.12 | | | Fedora (34 to 37) | WIP | WIP | | 5.12+ | No | | | Rocky Linux 8 | WIP | WIP | | 5.12+ | No | | | Alma Linux (8, 9) | WIP | WIP | | 5.12+ | No | | | CentOS Stream | WIP | WIP | | 5.12+ | No | | | Amazon Linux 2 | WIP | WIP | | 5.12+ | No | | | RedHat Enterprise | WIP | WIP | | 5.12+ | No | Sysbox-EE only | | Flatcar | | | | 5.10+ | If kernel < 5.12 | Sysbox-EE only; see . | NOTES: "Package install" means a Sysbox package is available for that distro. See for more. "K8s-install" means you can deploy Sysbox on a Kubernetes worker node based on that distro. See for more. "Build from source" means you can build and install Sysbox from source on that distro. It's pretty easy, see . "Kernel upgrade" means a kernel upgrade may be required (Sysbox requires a fairly new kernel). See for more. "WIP" means "work-in-progress" (i.e., we expect to have this soon). These are the Linux distros we officially support (and test

However, we expect Sysbox to work fine on other Linux distros too, particularly with kernel >= 5.12. See for the list of supported K8s distros, and for the list of supported K8s versions. See for a list of supported platform architectures (e.g., amd64, arm64). Shiftfs is a Linux kernel module that Sysbox uses to ensure host volumes mounted into the (rootless) container show up with proper user and group IDs (rather than `nobody:nogroup`); see the for more info. Sysbox's requirement for shiftfs is as follows: | Linux Kernel Version | Shiftfs Required by Sysbox | | -- | :: | | < 5.12 | Yes | | 5.12 to 5.18 | No (but recommended) | | >= 5.19 | No | In kernels 5.12 to 5.18, shiftfs is not required but having it causes Sysbox to setup the container's filesystem more efficiently, so it's recommended. Unfortunately, shiftfs is only available in Ubuntu, Debian, and Flatcar distros (and possibly derivatives of these). Therefore, if your host has kernel < 5.12 and you wish to use Sysbox, it must be one of these distros. Shiftfs is not available in other distros (e.g., Fedora, CentOS, RedHat, Amazon Linux 2, etc.) For this reason, in order to use Sysbox in these other distros, you must have kernel >= 5.12. In the Ubuntu's desktop and server versions, shiftfs comes pre-installed. In Ubuntu's cloud images or in Debian or Flatcar, shiftfs must be manually installed. See the for info on how to do this. If you have a relatively old Ubuntu 18.04 release (e.g. 18.04.3), you need to upgrade the kernel to >= 5.3. We recommend using Ubuntu's package to do the upgrade as follows: ```console $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-18.04 -y $ sudo shutdown -r now ``` This one is only required when running Debian Buster. ```console $ # Allow debian-backports utilization ... $ echo deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main contrib non-free | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/buster-backports.list $ sudo apt update $ sudo apt install -t buster-backports linux-image-amd64 $ sudo shutdown -r now ``` Refer to this for more details.