Kubernetes, the popular open-source container orchestration system, has recently announced that it is using the Open Build Service (OBS) platform to generate and publish its official packages to its new official repository: pkgs.k8s.io. This is a significant step for Kubernetes in its goal to rely on community-owned infrastructure for all critical components (that includes packages repositories), but also in automating and simplifying generations of multiple packages for multiple branches of its software stack, while maintaining trust along the chain.

 What is OBS?

OBS is a versatile tool that automates the process of generating and distributing a wide range of software artefacts for a broad range of targets.

• This includes packages, disk images or containers…
• for multiple Linux distributions such as SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, Debian and more,
• on multiple hardware architecture like amd64, arm64, ppc64LE, s390x, etc.

Thanks to this versatility, its generalized use of signature mechanisms, its ability to generate full-transitive SBOM and its backed-in secure builds capability, it is widely adopted. It is also the tooling used to build all SUSE distributions and openSUSE. It can be deployed on-prem or cloud or used directly through the build.opensuse.org instance freely available for all open-source projects.

OBS was included in the scope of the audit leading BSI to grant SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with Common Criteria EAL4+, the highest level for a general-purpose operating system, making OBS the only tool able to build and assemble a Common Criteria EAL4+-certified general-purpose Operating System. All packages of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server are also SLSA L3, the highest level of the Supply Chain Levels for Software Artefacts framework, making OBS one of the most trusted and versatile build platform in the industry.

Why did Kubernetes choose OBS?

Kubernetes is the cornerstone of cloud computing, used as core technology by thousands of companies that make up a heterogeneous landscape of Linux distributions and hardware architecture. Thanks to OBS versatility and automation capabilities, Kubernetes was able to automate generation of packages for multiple Linux distribution for a broad range of hardware architecture (x86, arm64, s390x, ppc64l, etc.). All of that while maintaining the chain of trust through signature mechanisms.

SUSE provides Kubernetes with free use of its build.opensuse.org platform and support on implementing its projects.

Choose open!

At SUSE, we believe that the power of open source lies in the freedom to choose. One of our purposes is to simplify support for the heterogeneity that comes with this position. OBS is a testament to this vision, enabling Kubernetes and other teams around the world to automatically build and package their products, for the Linux distributions they choose and the architecture they need, with an unmatched level of transparency and security of the software supply chain, helping building trust in the digital world.

What’s next

While Kubernetes teams are focused on supporting customers’ migration toward the new community-owned repository, SUSE’s team are considering other ways OBS could simplify Kubernetes’s work while growing trust in a digital world. Stay connected!