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add concept for OCI Artifact #238

Merged
merged 12 commits into from
Aug 9, 2023
8 changes: 8 additions & 0 deletions docs/concepts/_category_.json
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{
"label": "Concepts",
"position": 50,
"link": {
"type": "generated-index",
"description": "Concepts"
}
}
237 changes: 237 additions & 0 deletions docs/concepts/artifact.mdx
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---
title: OCI artifact
sidebar_position: 1
---

# Understanding OCI artifacts

The Open Container Initiative (OCI) organization has played
a crucial role in defining the industry-standard specifications for container
formats, runtime, and artifacts.
OCI artifacts encompass an extensive variety of content types, from signatures,
Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs), Helm charts, container images, to Open Policy Agent (OPA)
bundles and more, thereby lending incredible flexibility to how containerized
applications are packaged, delivered, and updated.

This article will delve into OCI artifacts created using a manifest defined as a part of
the OCI image specification.

## The Anatomy of an OCI artifact

The structure of an OCI Artifact includes an Image Manifest or an Image Index
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that points to other OCI artifacts. These artifacts can be stored and accessed from
[content addressable storage][cas] like a registry, or an on-disk storage like
an [OCI-Layout][oci-layout] directory.

The OCI artifact can be referenced using a *tag*
or a *digest*. The digest is a hash of the OCI artifact manifest or index and
should be assumed to be immutable where as the tag may be mutable.

A *tag* resolves to a data structure called the [descriptor][descriptor] which
contains the digest of the manifest or index.

![Diagram showing relationship and fiels of a tag image and index](/img/concepts/artifact/tag_relations.png)
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### The Significance of Annotations

Annotations in OCI artifacts offer a means of adding metadata to various
components, including the Image Manifest, Image Index and Image Layers.
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These annotations hold key-value pairs that represent either the metadata
of the OCI artifact or blobs, such as the creation time, or data of the artifact itself.

```json
{
...
"annotations": {
"oci.opencontainers.image.created": "2023-01-02T03:04:05Z",
"com.example.information": "useful-info"
}
}
```

### Determining the artifact type

For OCI artifacts the **type** of the artifact may be determined from the `artifactType` property
in the image manifest or index. This property was introduced in v1.1 of the [image specification][image-properties].
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In cases when the `artifactType` property is not defined, the `config.mediaType` property may be used to determine
the type of the artifact as shown in the diagram below.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
B{Is\nmanifest.artifactType\ndefined?}
B -->|Yes| C[type=manifest.artifactType]
B -->|No| E[type=manifest.config.mediaType]
```

For aritifact authors, the the choice of whether to set the `artifactType` or
`config.mediaType` depends on the contents and shape of the artifact and is discussed in the following sections.
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## Dissecting the Manifest

The structure of the artifact depends on the purpose of the artifact and content.
The manifest is a JSON document that contains the metadata for the artifact.
Artifacts may have files that are stored as blobs or metadata that is stored in the manifest
as annotations. The manifest may also contain references to other artifacts.

### Artifacts with blobs

Let's delve into an OCI artifact that uses an [Image Manifest][image-manifest].
Below is an example where artifact type is `application/vnd.example+type`. The artifact
also has blobs that are referenced in the manifest in the `layers` property. It is
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important to note that the `config` property is required in the manifest and
in this case the config is an empty blob as per the [empty descriptor guidance][empty-descriptor].

```json
{
"schemaVersion": 2,
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
"artifactType": "application/vnd.example+type",
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"config": {
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.empty.v1+json",
"digest": "sha256:44136fa355b3678a1146ad16f7e8649e94fb4fc21fe77e8310c060f61caaff8a",
"size": 2
},
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"layers": [
{
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.layer.v1.tar",
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"digest": "sha256:d2a84f4b8b650937ec8f73cd8be2c74add5a911ba64df27458ed8229da804a26",
"size": 12,
"annotations": {
"org.opencontainers.image.title": "hello.txt"
}
}
],
"annotations": {
"org.opencontainers.image.created": "2023-08-03T00:21:51Z"
}
}
```

### Artifacts with config

Clients can use `config.mediaType` property to
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declare the artifact type. The `config.mediaType` may be used when artifacts have a valid config blob and
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the mediaType matches the config blob and type of the artifact. For example the
artifact type below for the helm chart is `application/vnd.cncf.helm.config.v1+json`

```json
{
"schemaVersion": 2,
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
"config": {
"mediaType": "application/vnd.cncf.helm.config.v1+json",
"digest": "sha256:34bf03806938a59ee7dc3e2c33e314d0eaef573313ff9dcc677113502d568523",
"size": 145
},
"layers": [
{
"mediaType": "application/vnd.cncf.helm.chart.content.v1.tar+gzip",
"digest": "sha256:4d80464e9d8e9f3ba92e6ead6d3b5afd0532cb0a81e980599a0bced99fdc6e01",
"size": 3763
}
]
}
```

### Annotations only artifacts

Artifacts may store metadata in the manifest as annotations and do not have a config or blobs.
For these the `artifactType` property is used to declare the type of the artifact.
The config property is required in the manifest for maximum compatiblity an empty layer is also created.
as per the [empty descriptors guidance][empty-descriptor].

```json
{
"schemaVersion": 2,
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
"artifactType": "application/vnd.example+type",
"config": {
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"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.empty.v1+json",
"digest": "sha256:44136fa355b3678a1146ad16f7e8649e94fb4fc21fe77e8310c060f61caaff8a",
"size": 2
},
"layers": [
{
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.empty.v1+json",
"digest": "sha256:44136fa355b3678a1146ad16f7e8649e94fb4fc21fe77e8310c060f61caaff8a",
"size": 2
}
],
"annotations": {
"oci.opencontainers.image.created": "2023-01-02T03:04:05Z",
"com.example.info": "useful-info"
}
}
```
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### Deciding on artifactType or config.mediaType
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Considering the above types of artifacts, the decision tree below should help
determine what fields to set when creating an artifact.

```mermaid
graph TD
HasBlob{Artifact has at least<br>one file or blob?}
HasConfigData{Artifact has additional<br> metadata config blob?}
HasConfigEqArtifactType{Artifact has an artifactType<br>equal to the <br>the config blob mediaType?}

Artifact_NoBlobs[Specify artifactType,<br>set config and layers<br>to empty descriptors.]
Artifact_NoConfig[Specify artifactType, include<br>artifact in layers, set<br>config to empty descriptor.]
Artifact_WithConfigBlob[Specify artifactType to value,<br> specify config blob and mediaType,<br> include artifact in layers.]
Artifact_NoArtifactType[Specify config blob and it's mediaType<br>to indicate artifactType,<br>include artifact in layers,<br>do not set artifactType.]

HasBlob -- No --> Artifact_NoBlobs
HasBlob -- Yes --> HasConfigData
HasConfigData -- No --> Artifact_NoConfig
HasConfigData -- Yes --> HasConfigEqArtifactType
HasConfigEqArtifactType -- Yes --> Artifact_NoArtifactType
HasConfigEqArtifactType -- No --> Artifact_WithConfigBlob
```

### Harnessing Image Indexes

One of the key advantages of OCI artifacts is their ability to utilize [Image Indexes][image-index],
allowing the bundling of various OCI artifacts.

The Image Index is a higher-level construct in the OCI Image Specification that can point to
multiple Image Manifests, each suitable for a different platform or architecture or filtered by annotation.
It helps to group related artifacts together, providing a single entry-point for accessing any specific
artifact depending on the required condition.

## Best Practices and Limitations

While working with OCI artifacts, keep in mind that client tools and registries
are in the process of implementiong v1.1 version of the OCI image and distribution specifications.

- When clients or registries support the `artifactType` property, the `config.mediaType`
can be set to _application/vnd.oci.empty.v1+json_ if the artifact doesn't have a config.
blob as per the [empty descriptor guidance][empty-descriptor].
- As a rule of thumb, keep the manifest size manageable by avoiding excessive annotations
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and leveraging blobs for larger data chunks.

## The Road Ahead

The evolution of OCI artifacts is a journey in progress. While the current specification
does not permit an empty config blob, it's plausible that future updates might
make config and blobs optional eliminating the need for the empty blob.

By understanding OCI artifacts and their role in representing
container images, developers and DevOps teams can ensure the smooth deployment
and execution of containerized applications. The open and standardized nature of
OCI artifacts promotes interoperability among different clouds and platforms,
enabling seamless container orchestration and scaling across cloud and
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on-premises infrastructures.

To learn more about the OCI Image Specification and Image Manifests, you can
refer to the official [OCI Image Specification GitHub repository](
https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec) and explore the detailed
specifications.

[cas]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content-addressable_storage
[oci-layout]: https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/blob/v1.1.0-rc4/image-layout.md
[descriptor]: https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/blob/v1.1.0-rc4/descriptor.md
[image-manifest]: https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/blob/v1.1.0-rc4/manifest.md#image-manifest
[image-properties]: https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/blob/v1.1.0-rc4/manifest.md#image-manifest-property-descriptions
[empty-descriptor]: https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/blob/v1.1.0-rc4/manifest.md#guidance-for-an-empty-descriptor
[image-index]: https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/blob/v1.1.0-rc4/image-index.md#image-index-property-descriptions
66 changes: 66 additions & 0 deletions docs/concepts/tag_relations.dot
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# To generate the image used, run the following command
# dot -Tpng -o tag_relations.png tag_relations.dot
digraph git_basics {
graph [
dpi=600
fontname = "Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"
]
node [
style=filled
pencolor="#00000044" // frames color
fontname="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"
penwidth=1
]
edge [
arrowsize=0.5
labelfontcolor="#00000080"
penwidth=2
]

tag [
label=<<b>Tag</b>>
shape=box
color=lightcyan4
fillcolor=lightcyan1
]

subgraph manifests {
rank=same
manifest [
color="#88000022"
shape=plain
label=<<table border="0" cellborder="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr> <td> <b>Manifest</b> </td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="left">schema : <i>string</i><br align="left"/></td></tr>
<tr> <td align="left">artifactType : <i>string</i><br align="left"/></td></tr>
<tr> <td align="left">config : <i>descriptor</i><br align="left"/></td></tr>
<tr> <td align="left">annotations : <i>map[string]string</i><br align="left"/></td></tr>
<tr> <td align="left">subject : <i>descriptor</i><br align="left"/></td></tr>
</table>>
]

index [
shape=plain
color="#88000022"
label=<<table border="0" cellborder="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr> <td> <b>Index</b> </td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="left">manifests : <i>[ ]descriptor</i><br align="left"/></td></tr>
</table>>
]
}

blobs [
fillcolor="#88ff0022"
label=<<table border="0" cellborder="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr> <td > <b>Blobs</b></td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="left">config blob</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="left">layer blobs</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="center">...</td> </tr>
</table>>
shape=plain
]

tag -> manifest
tag -> index -> manifest
manifest -> blobs
}
4 changes: 4 additions & 0 deletions docusaurus.config.js
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Expand Up @@ -200,6 +200,10 @@ const config = {
darkTheme: darkCodeTheme,
},
}),
markdown: {
mermaid: true,
},
themes: ['@docusaurus/theme-mermaid'],
};

module.exports = config;
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