OCI (Open Containers Initiative)

A project for creating industry-wide standards for container virtualization launched by the Linux Foundation in 2015. The OCI defines two specifications in particular: the runtime specification (»runtime-spec«) and the build specification (»image-spec«) of containers.

The basic goal of the OCI is to ensure a uniform container standard that also includes future container platforms and maintains the openness of container virtualization. Otherwise new container formats would have kept appearing that couldn’t operate with each other in the end. This way, containers shouldn’t be tied to a particular client and orchestration system or vendor.

While it’s supported by a large number of major IT companies, it’s intended to remain independent of any commercial influence.