It is the base container OS for Microsoft Azure services[4][5] and the graphical component of WSL 2.

[7] In a similar approach to Fedora CoreOS, Azure Linux only has the basic packages needed to support and run containers.

Using RPM allows adding custom packages to a base Azure Linux image to support additional features and services as needed.

Notable features include an iptables-based firewall, support for signed updates, and a hardened kernel.

[2] Building Azure Linux requires the Go programming language, QEMU utilities, and RPM.