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Alpine-based container images

Alpine-based container images are Docker images built using the Alpine Linux distribution as the base operating system^[600-developer-docker-run-command.md]. These images are frequently utilized in containerized development and deployment workflows due to their reduced footprint^[600-developer-docker-run-command.md].

Characteristics

The primary advantage of using Alpine as a base layer is its minimal size. The standard Alpine image is significantly smaller than many other base images, resulting in a final image size that is often compact and efficient^[600-developer-docker-run-command.md].

For instance, the base alpine:latest image is approximately 5.54MB^[600-developer-docker-run-command.md]. Even after adding utilities such as Apache web server modules and SSL certificates, the total image size may remain under 11MB^[600-developer-docker-run-command.md].

Construction

To create an Alpine-based container, developers specify the Alpine source in the FROM instruction of their Dockerfile^[600-developer-docker-run-command.md]. Because Alpine uses the apk package manager, dependencies are installed using commands like apk add^[600-developer-docker-run-command.md].

A simple Dockerfile for an Alpine-based image follows this structure^[600-developer-docker-run-command.md]:

FROM alpine:latest
RUN apk add --no-cache apache2-ssl apache2-utils ca-certificates
ENTRYPOINT [ "ab" ]

Sources

  • 600-developer-docker-run-command.md
  • [[Docker]]
  • [[Containerization]]
  • [[Linux Distributions]]