Understanding OCI (The Open Container Initiative)
What Is OCI?
The Open Container Initiative (OCI) is a Linux Foundation project launched in June 2015 by Docker, CoreOS, and other container industry leaders. Its mission is to create open industry standards around container formats and runtimes.
OCI governs three core specifications:
| Specification | Purpose | Version |
|---|---|---|
| Runtime Specification (runtime-spec) | How to run a container from a filesystem bundle | 1.2 |
| Image Specification (image-spec) | How to package and ship container images | 1.1 |
| Distribution Specification (distribution-spec) | How to push/pull images to/from a registry | 1.1 |
These three specs define the complete lifecycle of a container: build β ship β run.