diff --git a/classes/meta-virt-container-cfg.bbclass b/classes/meta-virt-container-cfg.bbclass
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0688f525
--- /dev/null
+++ b/classes/meta-virt-container-cfg.bbclass
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# We need to set the Xen meta-virt config components, only if "xen"
+# is in the distro features.  Since we don't know the distro flags during
+# layer.conf load time, we delay using a special bbclass that simply includes
+# the META_VIRT_CONTAINER_CONFIG_PATH file.
+
+include ${@bb.utils.contains('DISTRO_FEATURES', 'virtualization', '${META_VIRT_CONTAINER_CONFIG_PATH}', '', d)}
diff --git a/conf/distro/include/meta-virt-container.inc b/conf/distro/include/meta-virt-container.inc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c3ac8394
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/distro/include/meta-virt-container.inc
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# These variables represent groupings of functionality in the CNCF
+# landscape. In particular, they are areas where there is a choice
+# between more than one implementation or an area where abstraction
+# is beneficial.
+#
+# The contents of the variables are are runtime components that
+# recipes may use for RDEPENDS.
+#
+# Build dependencies are not typically flexible, so do not currently
+# have DEPENDS equivalents for the components (i.e. DEPENDS on runc
+# versus crun).
+#
+# Distro features such as kubernetes or other container stacks
+# can be used to set different defaults for these variables.
+#
+# Note: these are "global" values, since they represent choices.
+# If more than of a grouping is required on target, then the variable
+# can be appended or set to multiple values. That being said, Recipes
+# should generally agree on the values, hence the global namespace.
+# Recipe specific choices  can still be done, but they risk
+# conflicting on target or causing runtime issues / errors.
+#
+
+## CNCF "components"
+
+# engines: docker-ce/docker-moby, virtual-containerd, cri-o, podman
+VIRTUAL-RUNTIME_container_engine ??= "podman"
+# runtime: runc, crun, runv, runx
+VIRTUAL-RUNTIME_container_runtime ??= "virtual-runc"
+# networking: cni, netavark
+VIRTUAL-RUNTIME_container_networking ??= "cni"
+# dns: cni, aardvark-dns
+VIRTUAL-RUNTIME_container_dns ??= "cni"
+# orchestration: k8s, k3s
+VIRTUAL-RUNTIME_container_orchestration ??= "k3s"
+
+## Kubernetes terminology "components"
+
+VIRTUAL-RUNTIME_cri ??= "virtual-containerd"
+VIRTUAL-RUNTIME_cni ??= "cni"
diff --git a/conf/layer.conf b/conf/layer.conf
index 10b457f8..88ac3905 100644
--- a/conf/layer.conf
+++ b/conf/layer.conf
@@ -52,9 +52,11 @@ INHERIT += "sanity-meta-virt"
 # layer.conf load time, we delay using a special bbclass that simply includes
 # the META_VIRT_CONFIG_PATH file, and likewise for the Xen and k8s configs
 META_VIRT_CONFIG_PATH = "${LAYERDIR}/conf/distro/include/meta-virt-default-versions.inc"
+META_VIRT_CONTAINER_CONFIG_PATH = "${LAYERDIR}/conf/distro/include/meta-virt-container.inc"
 META_VIRT_XEN_CONFIG_PATH = "${LAYERDIR}/conf/distro/include/meta-virt-xen.inc"
 K8S_CONFIG_PATH = "${LAYERDIR}/conf/distro/include/k8s-versions.inc"
 USER_CLASSES:append = " meta-virt-cfg"
+USER_CLASSES:append = " meta-virt-container-cfg"
 USER_CLASSES:append = " meta-virt-k8s-cfg"
 USER_CLASSES:append = " meta-virt-xen-cfg"
 USER_CLASSES:append = " meta-virt-hosts"