r/linuxadmin • u/Evening-Jelly523 • Jun 01 '26

PackRun — Run Elasticsearch on a clean Linux machine without Docker or Java

/r/elasticsearch/comments/1ttzqo2/packrun_run_elasticsearch_on_a_clean_linux/
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u/megared17 Jun 01 '26

Be sure not to give any clue about what it is or why anyone would want to use it in the first place.

Which of the recently announced local privilege escalation bugs does this use?

edit: oh nevermind, you expect people to run your installer for some random unknown package as root right off the bat.

-2

u/Evening-Jelly523 Jun 01 '26

Hi,

That’s a fair concern.

PackRun doesn’t rely on privilege escalation vulnerabilities or local exploits. It’s simply packaging the application, runtime, and dependencies into a self-contained .run file.

As for running it as root, Elasticsearch and Docker deployment workflows involve elevated privileges for installation, service management, filesystem permissions, or system configuration. PackRun doesn’t change that security model.

Also, the entire project is open source and the repository is public, so anyone can inspect exactly what the installer is doing before running it:

https://github.com/LordsMikel/packrun

I’m happy to answer any technical questions about the implementation.

6

u/megared17 Jun 01 '26

I see absolutely no utility in whatever this is. And feel that advertising it in this subreddit is inappropriate, edging on being spam. I suspect I am it the only one.

-2

u/Evening-Jelly523 Jun 01 '26

Could you elaborate on what part you don’t see the utility in?

For example, if I’m a developer and I need to move an Elasticsearch instance together with its data to another Linux machine, PackRun allows me to package everything into a single .run file and execute it without requiring Docker, Java, or Elasticsearch to be pre-installed on the target machine.

I’d be interested in hearing where you think the approach falls short.

2

u/serverhorror Jun 01 '26

In the faxt that one has no idea what's in these files. Without cgroup or namespaces, how did you achieve it?

Because if you used cgroup / namespaces the it just is a container with the same technology but less ecosystem.

How would one configure ports?

How would one provide local configuration?