lima README

The project's README from github.com/lima-vm/lima. As one markdown file: README.md.

[🌎Web site] [📖Documentation] [👤Slack (#lima)]

Lima: Linux Machines

Lima launches Linux virtual machines with automatic file sharing and port forwarding (similar to WSL2).

The original goal of Lima was to promote containerd including nerdctl (contaiNERD ctl) to Mac users, but Lima can be used for non-container applications as well.

Lima also supports other container engines (Docker, Podman, Kubernetes, etc.) and non-macOS hosts (Linux, NetBSD, etc.).

Getting started

Set up (Homebrew):

brew install lima
limactl start

To run Linux commands:

lima uname -a

To run containers with containerd:

lima nerdctl run --rm hello-world

To run containers with Docker:

limactl start template:docker
export DOCKER_HOST=$(limactl list docker --format 'unix://{{.Dir}}/sock/docker.sock')
docker run --rm hello-world

To run containers with Kubernetes:

limactl start template:k8s
export KUBECONFIG=$(limactl list k8s --format 'unix://{{.Dir}}/copied-from-guest/kubeconfig.yaml')
kubectl apply -f ...

See https://lima-vm.io/docs/ for the further information.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details on:

Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO): All commits must be signed off with git commit -s
Code licensing and pull request guidelines
Testing requirements

Community

Adopters

Container environments:

Rancher Desktop: Kubernetes and container management to the desktop
Colima: Docker (and Kubernetes) on macOS with minimal setup
Finch: Finch is a command line client for local container development
Podman Desktop: Podman Desktop GUI has a plug-in for Lima virtual machines

GUI:

Lima xbar plugin: xbar plugin to start/stop VMs from the menu bar and see their running status.
lima-gui: Qt GUI for Lima

Communication channels

GitHub Discussions
#lima channel in the CNCF Slack
- New account: https://slack.cncf.io/
- Login: https://cloud-native.slack.com/
Community meetings on Zoom (tentatively monthly)
- Meeting notes & agenda proposals: https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/discussions/categories/meetings
- Calendar: https://zoom-lfx.platform.linuxfoundation.org/meetings/lima

Follow us for project updates, release announcements, and community news:

Code of Conduct

Lima follows the CNCF Code of Conduct.

We are a Cloud Native Computing Foundation incubating project.

The Linux Foundation® (TLF) has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of TLF trademarks, see Trademark Usage.

virtual-machine

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22.1K ·GitHub

What is this?

Lima launches Linux virtual machines with automatic file sharing and port forwarding, similar to WSL2. It was originally created to bring containerd and nerdctl to Mac users but is not limited to containers.

Is Lima a GUI app, or do I drive it from the terminal?

It is a command-line tool: you manage VMs with the limactl CLI and work inside Linux from your own terminal. There is no GUI.

How do I install it and start my first VM?

Install with Homebrew (brew install lima), then create and boot a VM with limactl start. From there you can run Linux commands or containers right away.

Which container engines can I run inside a Lima VM?

containerd is the built-in default, and Lima also supports Docker, Podman and Kubernetes, so you can stick with the engine you already know.

Does it run only on Macs, or on other hosts too?

macOS is the original target, but Lima also runs on other hosts, including Linux and NetBSD.

What is nerdctl?

It is contaiNERD ctl, the command-line client for containerd — the container tool Lima was built around.

Is this an actively maintained project or a side experiment?

It is well established: about 22,000 GitHub stars, started in May 2021, and still under active development (not archived).

What are similar projects?

vfkit, colima, smolvm, qemu, nerdctl, podman, ProxmoxVE, containerd

Which topics is it in?

containerd, qemu, vm, virtual-machine, virtualization, containers, homebrew, kubernetes, devops, go, command-line-tool, apache-2.0

Creator: lima-vm
Size: 18.8 MB
Stars: 22.1K
Updated: CommitOct 16 Releasev2.2.1Oct 03
Age: 5y
Commits · 90 Days