# vmware/photon

Minimal Linux container host

Repository: https://github.com/vmware/photon
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/vmware-photon
Homepage: https://vmware.github.io/photon
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-08-26T10:11:29+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 67/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4158, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3178, forks 694 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:47.694668+00:00)

## What it is
Photon OS is an open-source, security-hardened minimal Linux distribution purpose-built as a container host for cloud-native applications, Kubernetes nodes, and VMware infrastructure. It ships with the Docker daemon, the tdnf package manager, and tuned kernels for ESXi, cloud providers, and real-time workloads.

## Use cases
- minimal linux os for running docker containers
- build kubernetes cluster nodes
- secure container host vm for vsphere
- lightweight os for cloud instances on aws azure gce
- real-time low-latency linux kernel for edge deployments
- automated os installation with pxe and kickstart
- arm64 and raspberry pi container host os

## When to choose
- you need a lean, security-hardened OS dedicated to running containers or Kubernetes
- you run workloads on VMware ESXi and want a kernel tuned for that hypervisor
- you want cloud images (AMI, GCE, Azure VHD) or OVA appliances ready to deploy
- you need real-time kernel support for latency-sensitive edge applications

## When to avoid
- you need a general-purpose desktop or full-featured server Linux distribution
- your stack is tightly tied to another distro's package ecosystem like apt or yum
- you require long-term community support outside VMware's ecosystem
- you want an immutable/atomic-update container OS like Fedora CoreOS or Flatcar

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: container-runtime, security, configuration-management, cli
- domain: cloud-computing, operating-systems, self-hosted
- platform: cloud, self-hosted
- tags: container-host, linux-distribution, vmware, tdnf, security-hardened, os-image, kubernetes-nodes, edge-computing, containers, devops, linux, docker, kubernetes

## Member repositories
- vmware/photon (main) score 67

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:47.694668+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:25:07.853960+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vmware/photon (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:47.694668+00:00, sha a7fa9a87a970)
  - homepage: https://vmware.github.io/photon (fetched 2026-08-29T09:39:16.370553+00:00, sha 27fd9a184615)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.