Update the container section

[tomDag25]

PR to document the changes made to update the container section.
Related to issue #148

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[tomDag25]

@SomeoneInParticular I started to complete the docker documentation in my last commit but I just don't know if most of the things put in the current docker section is really used. I never did my docker using this kind of things. Do you think they are really used ? Otherwise we can keep it at the end of the page but maybe starting with that can be disorienting.

What I would tend to focus on is the Dockerfile creation because it's very likely it will the more useful for new students since it's the tricky part with docker.

[SomeoneInParticular]

So, after working on a restructure of the containers docs for a bit, I ran into a few things worth discussing before I made potentially breaking edits, though:

• Boutiques isn't actually a container system; instead, its more a system of managing and sharing containers (or, more precisely, container images).
  • Given there's a PR to add Apptainer support coming down the pipe, which would make it no longer Docker-specific, I'm going to argue that we push its addition to the website into another PR.
• The image we used for GPU support on Docker is no longer maintained (see here), likely necessitating a re-write of the entire document.
  • Given that GPU support is almost certainly a universal problem for all containers, do we want to just make a page for that anyways?
• I know many of our computer resources use PodMan; do we want to add a brief section on it as well?

[SomeoneInParticular]

What I would tend to focus on is the Dockerfile creation because it's very likely it will the more useful for new students since it's the tricky part with docker.

Agreed; for now I think our personal docs will be more focused on a "quickstart" guide to containers, with links to more thorough documentation as needed. As we discussed today, to my mind the point of the website is as a "grounding point" to come to when someone couldn't figure something out themselves, or when the lab has a "stanardized" way to do something which everyone should follow.

[tomDag25]

Boutiques isn't actually a container system

Yes boutiques isn't a container it's just a way to automate the use of containers. We can do that in another PR if you think it's better I don't mind.

Given that GPU support is almost certainly a universal problem for all containers, do we want to just make a page for that anyways?

I think it would be a good idea, however I'm not very familiar with the use of GPU in containers. I know that it's tricky and can be painful to implement but I can look into that. If it's something that is kind of standard between podman, docker and aptainer we can just make a page about GPU in container or add a section at the end of each page.

I know many of our computer resources use PodMan; do we want to add a brief section on it as well?

I don't really know the differences between podman and docker. We should definitely add a disclaimer about that in the docker page. Otherwise in the PodMan section we could just put the differences we find between docker and podman (It would give the opportunity for futur users to also put some differences they ran into).

[SomeoneInParticular]

Yes boutiques isn't a container it's just a way to automate the use of containers. We can do that in another PR if you think it's better I don't mind.

I believe this would be the best approach for now (given we both seem to be rather busy, as evidenced by the distance between posts haha)

I think it would be a good idea, however I'm not very familiar with the use of GPU in containers. I know that it's tricky and can be painful to implement but I can look into that. If it's something that is kind of standard between podman, docker and aptainer we can just make a page about GPU in container or add a section at the end of each page.

For now, I think a simple link to each container technology's respective documentation would be sufficient; we can come back around to this in a future PR as well.

I don't really know the differences between podman and docker. We should definitely add a disclaimer about that in the docker page. Otherwise in the PodMan section we could just put the differences we find between docker and podman (It would give the opportunity for futur users to also put some differences they ran into).

They use the same underlying format, but "boot" them in a different manner. So yeah, a disclaimer seems like the smart approach.