Hadolint vs Helm: What are the differences?

## Key Differences between Hadolint and Helm

Hadolint is a Dockerfile linter that validates Dockerfiles against best practices, focusing on recommendations for security, building best practices, and Dockerfile best practices. On the other hand, Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that provides templating and deployment capabilities for Kubernetes manifests, enabling easier management and deployment of applications on Kubernetes clusters.

1. **Purpose**: Hadolint is specifically designed to analyze and provide recommendations for Dockerfiles, ensuring they adhere to best practices and security guidelines, while Helm is tailored towards managing and deploying applications on Kubernetes clusters through the use of templating and packaging Kubernetes manifests.
2. **Scope**: Hadolint focuses solely on Dockerfile linting, analyzing the structure and contents of Dockerfiles, while Helm encompasses a broader range of functionalities, including packaging applications, managing releases, and templating Kubernetes resources.
3. **Compatibility**: Hadolint is primarily used for Dockerfile linting within the context of building Docker images, whereas Helm is utilized for managing Kubernetes resources and application deployments on Kubernetes clusters, offering a higher level of abstraction compared to Hadolint's focus on Dockerfile analysis.
4. **Community Support**: Hadolint is supported by a community of developers and security experts focused on enhancing Dockerfile security and best practices, while Helm has a larger community backing due to its widespread adoption as a package manager for Kubernetes, offering extensive support and resources for users.
5. **Language and Configuration**: Hadolint focuses on analyzing Dockerfiles using a specific set of rules and configurations tailored for Dockerfile linting, while Helm leverages a templating language called Go template to define Kubernetes resources and configurations, providing a more versatile approach to managing Kubernetes deployments.
6. **Deployment Abstraction**: Helm abstracts the deployment process on Kubernetes through the use of charts, simplifying the packaging and deployment of applications on Kubernetes clusters, whereas Hadolint analyzes Dockerfiles at the image-building stage, offering insights and recommendations for optimizing Docker image creation processes.

In Summary, Hadolint and Helm differ in their primary purposes, scope, compatibility, community support, language and configuration approach, and deployment abstraction levels, catering to distinct aspects of containerization and Kubernetes application management.