Docker collaboration
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Redhat
- An alternative to AUFS
Docker originally ran on Ubuntu and Debian Linux and used AUFS for its storage backend. As Docker became popular, many of the companies that wanted to use it were using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Unfortunately, because the upstream mainline Linux kernel did not include AUFS, RHEL did not use AUFS either.
To correct this Red Hat developers investigated getting AUFS into the mainline kernel. Ultimately, though, they decided a better idea was to develop a new storage backend. Moreover, they would base this new storage backend on existing Device Mapper technology.
Red Hat collaborated with Docker Inc. to contribute this new driver. As a result of this collaboration, Docker’s Engine was re-engineered to make the storage backend pluggable. So it was that the devicemapper became the second storage driver Docker supported.
Device Mapper has been included in the mainline Linux kernel since version 2.6.9. It is a core part of RHEL family of Linux distributions. This means that the devicemapper storage driver is based on stable code that has a lot of real-world production deployments and strong community support. via https://docs.docker.com/engine/userguide/storagedriver/device-mapper-driver/
