Cargo-Cult Containerization: A Critical View of Containers in Modern Software Development

Tommi Mikkonen; Cesare Pautasso; Kari Systä; Antero Taivalsaari

doi:10.1109/SOSE55356.2022.00017

Cargo-Cult Containerization: A Critical View of Containers in Modern Software Development

Tommi Mikkonen, Cesare Pautasso, Kari Systä, Antero Taivalsaari

Computing Sciences

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

48 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Software is increasingly developed and deployed using containers. While the concept of a container is conceptually straightforward, there are various issues to be considered while using them, ranging from technical details inside containers to the orchestration of containers that jointly form a meaningful application. In recent years, the use of containers has become so prevalent that developers have a tendency to resort to cargo-cult containerization - ritual adherence to the use of containers just because so many others are doing the same thing. In this paper, we study advantages and downsides of containers in modern-day software development. We foresee the use of containers to spread into new areas, including IoT systems and embedded devices. At the same time, we caution against indiscriminate use of containers, since excessive containerization can have adverse impacts on software maintenance and overall complexity of a system architecture.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings - 16th IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented System Engineering, SOSE 2022
Publisher	IEEE
Pages	93-98
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Electronic)	9781665475341
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/SOSE55356.2022.00017
Publication status	Published - Aug 2022
Publication type	A4 Article in conference proceedings
Event	IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented System Engineering - Newark, United States Duration: 15 Aug 2022 → 18 Aug 2022

Publication series

Name
ISSN (Electronic)	2642-6587

Exhibition

Exhibition	IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented System Engineering
Country/Territory	United States
City	Newark
Period	15/08/22 → 18/08/22

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Publication forum level 1

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10.1109/SOSE55356.2022.00017

cargo_cult_containerization
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Cite this

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title = "Cargo-Cult Containerization: A Critical View of Containers in Modern Software Development",

abstract = "Software is increasingly developed and deployed using containers. While the concept of a container is conceptually straightforward, there are various issues to be considered while using them, ranging from technical details inside containers to the orchestration of containers that jointly form a meaningful application. In recent years, the use of containers has become so prevalent that developers have a tendency to resort to cargo-cult containerization - ritual adherence to the use of containers just because so many others are doing the same thing. In this paper, we study advantages and downsides of containers in modern-day software development. We foresee the use of containers to spread into new areas, including IoT systems and embedded devices. At the same time, we caution against indiscriminate use of containers, since excessive containerization can have adverse impacts on software maintenance and overall complexity of a system architecture.",

author = "Tommi Mikkonen and Cesare Pautasso and Kari Syst{\"a} and Antero Taivalsaari",

year = "2022",

month = aug,

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language = "English",

publisher = "IEEE",

pages = "93--98",

booktitle = "Proceedings - 16th IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented System Engineering, SOSE 2022",

note = "IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented System Engineering ; Conference date: 15-08-2022 Through 18-08-2022",

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Mikkonen, T, Pautasso, C, Systä, K & Taivalsaari, A 2022, Cargo-Cult Containerization: A Critical View of Containers in Modern Software Development. in Proceedings - 16th IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented System Engineering, SOSE 2022. IEEE, pp. 93-98, IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented System Engineering, Newark, United States, 15/08/22. https://doi.org/10.1109/SOSE55356.2022.00017

Cargo-Cult Containerization: A Critical View of Containers in Modern Software Development. / Mikkonen, Tommi; Pautasso, Cesare; Systä, Kari et al.
Proceedings - 16th IEEE International Conference on Service-Oriented System Engineering, SOSE 2022. IEEE, 2022. p. 93-98.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

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T1 - Cargo-Cult Containerization

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AU - Taivalsaari, Antero

PY - 2022/8

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N2 - Software is increasingly developed and deployed using containers. While the concept of a container is conceptually straightforward, there are various issues to be considered while using them, ranging from technical details inside containers to the orchestration of containers that jointly form a meaningful application. In recent years, the use of containers has become so prevalent that developers have a tendency to resort to cargo-cult containerization - ritual adherence to the use of containers just because so many others are doing the same thing. In this paper, we study advantages and downsides of containers in modern-day software development. We foresee the use of containers to spread into new areas, including IoT systems and embedded devices. At the same time, we caution against indiscriminate use of containers, since excessive containerization can have adverse impacts on software maintenance and overall complexity of a system architecture.

AB - Software is increasingly developed and deployed using containers. While the concept of a container is conceptually straightforward, there are various issues to be considered while using them, ranging from technical details inside containers to the orchestration of containers that jointly form a meaningful application. In recent years, the use of containers has become so prevalent that developers have a tendency to resort to cargo-cult containerization - ritual adherence to the use of containers just because so many others are doing the same thing. In this paper, we study advantages and downsides of containers in modern-day software development. We foresee the use of containers to spread into new areas, including IoT systems and embedded devices. At the same time, we caution against indiscriminate use of containers, since excessive containerization can have adverse impacts on software maintenance and overall complexity of a system architecture.

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Cargo-Cult Containerization: A Critical View of Containers in Modern Software Development

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