Newbie question: are containers restricted to a single platform?
 

I need to install a highly proprietary system which is distributed as a container. The installation instructions say that it uses systemd-container. But my Linux system doesn't have systemd. Do I have to obtain that, or can I use some other container platform like Docker?

You need one that is not incompatible with the container format. I have used OpenVZ containers, LXC containers, and migrated containers form one to the other: but all using formats that may now be obsolete.

Can you tell us more about the source of this container? Please give us any clue you may have about the format.

a few years ago the different versions of docker containers were not compatible with each other. The different kind of containers are not interchangeable (as far as I know). It also may depend on the kernel of the host system. So definitely we need to know more.

I'll have to find out from the developer - if I can find him and he's not too busy.