This document discusses the future of package management for Kubernetes applications. It envisions declarative Kubernetes APIs that enable automated updates of packaged software. Packages would be distributed as immutable bundles in OCI registries so the exact software versions are known. A layered approach is proposed where different tools can be used for their intended purpose, such as using Kubernetes resources, YAML, or the kapp CLI. The imgpkg CLI is demonstrated as a tool for pushing, copying, and pulling bundles stored in OCI registries. The document encourages readers to help build the future of package management through the Carvel project.

1. ©2021 VMware, Inc.
Kubernetes Package Management w/
Carvel and kapp-controller
Dmitriy Kalinin
Engineer, VMware Tanzu

2. ©2021 VMware, Inc.
👋, I am one of the maintainers of...
carvel.dev
#carvel on K8s

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdBRHVhbQWE

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...The future could be...
Declarative Kubernetes APIs that enable automated updates of packaged software
Immutable bundles distributed using OCI registries so that you know exactly what is
running on your cluster
A layered approach so that you can pick the right tool for the job

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Layered approach: picking the right abstraction
...
K8s
resource
reconciles K8s
resource
kapp CLI
kapp CLI

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Layered approach: picking the right abstraction
App
...
YAML
uses
K8s
resource
reconciles K8s
resource
kapp CLI
kapp CLI

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Layered approach: picking the right abstraction
Package Install Package
App
...
references
YAML
YAML
...
OCI image
YAML
reconciles
uses
K8s
resource
reconciles K8s
resource
kapp CLI
kapp CLI

8. ©2021 VMware, Inc.
Layered approach: picking the right abstraction
Package Install
Package Repository
Package
App
...
references
OCI image
YAML
YAML
...
OCI image
contains
YAML
YAML
reconciles
uses
K8s
resource
reconciles K8s
resource
kapp CLI
kapp CLI

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Let's dig in (live)...

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imgpkg Bundle
index.docker.io/user1/my-bundle1@sha256:ec3f870e958e404476b9ec67f28c598fa8f00f819b8ae05ee80d51bac9f35f5d
_ index.docker.io/prometheus/prometheus@sha256:8ffa7f9352149dba1d539d0006b38eda357917edcdd39b82497a61da...
_ index.docker.io/grafana/grafana@sha256:73713d922b5f561c0db2a7ea5f4f6384f7d2d6289886f8400a8aaf5e8fdf1...

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imgpkg Bundle

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○ Pushing contents to OCI registry
➢ imgpkg push -b registry.com/stuff/bundle:1.0.0 -f my-bundle/
○ Copying bundles between registries
➢ imgpkg copy -b registry.com/stuff/bundle:1.0.0 --to-repo elsewhere.com/bundle
➢ ...or convert bundle into intermediate tarball...
➢ imgpkg copy -b registry.com/stuff/bundle:1.0.0 --to-tar /tmp/thick-bundle.tar
○ Pulling bundle contents from OCI registry
➢ imgpkg pull -b elsewhere.com/bundle:1.0.0 -o /tmp/bundle
imgpkg CLI

13. ©2021 VMware, Inc.
Build the future of package management with us...
carvel.dev
#carvel on K8s