All Systems Go! 2026

single-file containers with statically linked systemd
2026-09-30 , Loft

Systemd can now be linked as a single static binary, which is enough to run a "full system" container that boots into a running manager. Transient units can then be used to do more things in the container. Thanks to systemd-nsresourced and systemd-mountfsd, this now works fully unprivileged and with no suid helpers. I want to show that this actually works and can be used for experimentation, development, and custom container images.

A contributor to systemd since 2010. Involved in the Fedora Linux project, member of FESCo. Employed in Amutable, working on cryptographically-verified immutable Linux installations.

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