microsoft / microsoft/WSL

Privileged container for fuse mount

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#41,181 3 comments 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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feature wslc
Dominant language
C++
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Description

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Our container needs --privileged (or --cap-add SYS_ADMIN + --device /dev/fuse) to support CVMFS FUSE mounts inside the container. CVMFS is used to stream neuroscience software modules into the container at /cvmfs/example.

Describe the solution you'd like
Support for --privileged flag in wslc run, or more granularly, support for --cap-add and --device flags to allow adding specific Linux capabilities (SYS_ADMIN) and device access (/dev/fuse) to containers.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Mounting CVMFS on the WSL host and bind-mounting /cvmfs into the container via -v /cvmfs:/cvmfs:ro, means users to manually install and configure CVMFS in their WSL distro, not great for an app targeting non-technical users.

Additional context
Project: Neurodesk App, desktop app for neuroscience computing. CVMFS streaming works on Docker and Podman with --privileged, but is blocked on WSL due to missing flag support.

Appreciate advice for workaround if this feature won't be considered for future release.
Thank you!

Contributor guide

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First steps

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  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at the wslc run entry point and inspect how container options are parsed and passed to the runtime. Compare the requested --privileged, --cap-add SYS_ADMIN, and --device /dev/fuse behavior with Docker or Podman, then validate that a CVMFS FUSE mount works inside the container.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
linux
Domain
operating-systems, security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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