Linux Namespaces Isolation

Discussions center on using Linux kernel namespaces (user, PID, mount) as alternatives to chroot for process isolation in containers, systemd, and tools like Docker/Podman, including security issues with user namespaces.

➡️ Stable 0.6x DevOps & Infrastructure
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#5099
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Keywords

CS GNU BSD github.io ubuntu.com AppArmor ID PID systemd.exec GID namespaces namespace pid containers user linux container jail kernel root

Sample Comments

superb_dev Sep 4, 2024 View on HN

Systemd can put it in its own namespaces, like a container

the8472 Feb 23, 2016 View on HN

why doesn't it just use user namespaces?

feanaro Dec 6, 2019 View on HN

Don't user namespaces have significant security issues themselves?

aussieguy1234 Jan 13, 2026 View on HN

It uses Linux kernel namespaces instead of chroot (containers are just fancy Liunx chroot)

the8472 Aug 28, 2017 View on HN

from the documentation it sounds like it uses namespaces where available, just like containers. chroot otherwise.

cyphar Dec 16, 2019 View on HN

Not if you use user namespaces (which you really should).

lima Aug 28, 2017 View on HN

Yes, it is. Either a magic user-space chroot, a normal chroot or user namespaces.

kenniskrag Feb 9, 2021 View on HN

why not? I would argue, that they use linux namespacing, cgroup etc.

gumby Jan 8, 2017 View on HN

What happened to just using chroot(), namespaces, and copy-on-write?

fock Sep 30, 2019 View on HN

why don't you use podman, bubblewrap or just straight namespaces?