|
| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: "Singularity 2.4 Release" |
| 3 | +category: releases |
| 4 | +permalink: "release-2-4" |
| 5 | +version: "2.4" |
| 6 | +--- |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +Singularity 2.4 is released, and here are the important notes for you to know about! |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +<img src="/assets/img/posts/releases/singularity-egg-easy.png"> |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +**Singularity Build** |
| 14 | +Building an image is now more intuitive with the introduction of our `build` command. You don't need to worry about using `create`, or `bootstrap`, you just build. It looks like this: |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +``` |
| 17 | +sudo singularity build container.simg Singularity |
| 18 | +``` |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +If you are tired of needing to estimate your image size, that issue goes away with build. The default format for a Singularity image base is now a smaller, compressed file format called **SquashFS**. This format is also a much better fit for reproducible containers, as it is immutable. For more details, see our [build](/docs-build-container) documentation. |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +**Build Bases** |
| 23 | +We originally supported just using an existing distribution package or docker as a base for building images. With 2.4, we have extended that set to include another Singularity image (`localimage`), or a Singularity Hub or Registry image (`shub`). |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +**Instance Support** |
| 26 | +Singularity now has support for instances, which means services! Images instances can be started, stopped, and listed. Along with instances comes **Network Namespace Isolation**. We are excited to see the kinds of use cases that this will afford for our users. |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +**Singularity Registry** |
| 29 | +If you want to host your own Registry, we listened and you are in luck! Singularity <a href="https://www.github.com/singularityhub/sregistry">Registry</a> is ready for your use, along with a <a href="https://singularityhub.github.io/containers">portal</a> for you to "register your registry" to make it easier to share your images. Singularity Hub, along with improved building and updated builders, will follow this release. |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +**Internal Modularity** |
| 32 | +This release includes support for the <a href="/docs-apps">Standard Container Integration Format (SCI-F)</a> that makes it easy for you to produce single, internally modular and programmatically discoverage containers. More information is provided on it's <a href="https://containers-ftw.github.io/SCI-F/">main site</a>. |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +**Better Documentation** |
| 35 | +We've added an entire page on the different customizations you can do to the [build environment](/build-environment), including changing the cache and specifying credentials for Docker. We now also have new sidebars for the Image and Instances command groups. |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +**Deprecated** |
| 39 | +We are deprecating the original `create` command to be replaced with `image.create`, along with `bootstrap` in favor with build. These commands will still work for 2.4, however we recommend you start testing the updated ones. |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +In addition, here are some tiny changes for your information! |
| 42 | + |
| 43 | +- Persistent Overlay |
| 44 | +- Container checks |
| 45 | +- Tests for instance support |
| 46 | +- Wrapper for create |
| 47 | +- Group instance commands |
| 48 | +- Group image commands |
| 49 | +- Bash completion updates |
| 50 | + |
| 51 | +For the full release announcement and downloads, please see <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/singularityware/singularity/releases/tag/2.4">the release on Github</a>. |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | +Wowee, way to go team, contributors, and the community! Please report any issues or questions that you might have to <a href="https://github.com/singularityware/singularity/issues/new" target="_blank">our issue board</a>. |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +Thank you! |
0 commit comments