distribution/README.md

# Distribution

The toolset to pack, ship, store, and deliver content.

This repository's main product is the Open Source Registry implementation
for storing and distributing container images using the
[OCI Distribution Specification](https://github.com/opencontainers/distribution-spec).
The goal of this project is to provide a simple, secure, and scalable base
for building a large scale registry solution or running a simple private registry.
It is a core library for many registry operators including Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry,
GitLab Container Registry and DigitalOcean Container Registry, as well as the CNCF Harbor
Project, and VMware Harbor Registry.

<img src="https://www.docker.com/sites/default/files/oyster-registry-3.png" width=200px/>

[![Build Status](https://github.com/distribution/distribution/workflows/CI/badge.svg?branch=main&event=push)](https://github.com/distribution/distribution/actions?query=workflow%3ACI)
[![GoDoc](https://img.shields.io/badge/go.dev-reference-007d9c?logo=go&logoColor=white&style=flat-square)](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/distribution/distribution)
[![License: Apache-2.0](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Apache--2.0-blue.svg)](LICENSE)

This repository contains the following components:

|**Component**       |Description                                                                                                                                                                                         |
|--------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| **registry**       | An implementation of the [OCI Distribution Specification](https://github.com/opencontainers/distribution-spec).                                                                                                 |
| **libraries**      | A rich set of libraries for interacting with distribution components. Please see [godoc](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/distribution/distribution) for details. **Note**: The interfaces for these libraries are **unstable**. |
| **documentation**  | Docker's full documentation set is available at [docs.docker.com](https://docs.docker.com). This repository [contains the subset](docs/) related just to the registry.                                                                                                                                          |

### How does this integrate with Docker, containerd, and other OCI client?

Clients implement against the OCI specification and communicate with the
registry using HTTP. This project contains an client implementation which
is currently in use by Docker, however, it is deprecated for the
[implementation in containerd](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/tree/master/remotes/docker)
and will not support new features.

### What are the long term goals of the Distribution project?

The _Distribution_ project has the further long term goal of providing a
secure tool chain for distributing content. The specifications, APIs and tools
should be as useful with Docker as they are without.

Our goal is to design a professional grade and extensible content distribution
system that allow users to:

* Enjoy an efficient, secured and reliable way to store, manage, package and
  exchange content
* Hack/roll their own on top of healthy open-source components
* Implement their own home made solution through good specs, and solid
  extensions mechanism.

## Contribution

Please see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for details on how to contribute
issues, fixes, and patches to this project. If you are contributing code, see
the instructions for [building a development environment](BUILDING.md).

## Communication

For async communication and long running discussions please use issues and pull requests on the github repo.
This will be the best place to discuss design and implementation.

For sync communication we have a #distribution channel in the [CNCF Slack](https://slack.cncf.io/)
that everyone is welcome to join and chat about development.

## Licenses

The distribution codebase is released under the [Apache 2.0 license](LICENSE).
The README.md file, and files in the "docs" folder are licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may obtain a
copy of the license, titled CC-BY-4.0, at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.