CODEWITHSUNDEEP
dockerdockerfile
nnkparikh
nnkparikh

Reputation: 353

Docker best practice: use OS or application as base image?

I would like to build a docker image which contains Apache and Python3. What is the suggested base image to use in this case? There is a offical apache:2.4.43-alpine image I can use as the base image, or I can install apache on top of a alpine base image.

What would be the best approach in this case?

Option1:

FROM apache:2.4.43-alpine
<Install python3>

Option2:

FROM alpine:3.9.6
<Install Apache>
<Install Python3>

Upvotes: 1

Views: 403

Answers (2)

Itamar Turner-Trauring
Itamar Turner-Trauring

Reputation: 3900

  1. Avoid Alpine, it will often make Python library installs muuuuch slower (https://pythonspeed.com/articles/alpine-docker-python/)

  2. In general, Python version is more important than Apache version. Latest Apache from stable Linux distro is fine even if not latest version, but latest Python might be annoyingly too old. Like, when 3.9 comes out, do you want to be on 3.7?

As such, I would recommend python:3.8-slim-buster (or whatever Python version you want), and install Apache with apt-get.

Upvotes: 0

BMW
BMW

Reputation: 45343

Here are my rules.

rule 1: If the images are official images (such as node, python, apache, etc), it is fine to use them as your application's base image directly, more than you build your own.

rule 2:, if the images are built by the owner, such as hashicorp/terraform, hashicorp is the owner of terraform, then it is better to use it, more than build your own.

rule 3: If you want to save time only, choice the most downloaded images with similar applications installed as base image

Make sure you can view its Dockerfile. Otherwise, don't use it at all, whatever how many download counted.

rule 4: never pull images from public registry servers, if your company has security compliance concern, build your own.

Another reason to build your own is, the exist image are not built on the operation system you prefer. Such as some images proved by aws, they are built with amazon linux 2, in most case, I will rebuild with my own.

rule 5: When build your own, never mind from which base image, no need reinvent the wheel and use exis image's Dockerfile from github.com if you can.

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions