NAME¶

Containerfile(Dockerfile) - automate the steps of creating a container image

INTRODUCTION¶

The Containerfile is a configuration file that automates the steps of creating a container image. It is similar to a Makefile. Container engines (Podman, Buildah, Docker) read instructions from the Containerfile to automate the steps otherwise performed manually to create an image. To build an image, create a file called Containerfile.

The Containerfile describes the steps taken to assemble the image. When the Containerfile has been created, call the buildah bud, podman build, docker build command, using the path of context directory that contains Containerfile as the argument. Podman and Buildah default to Containerfile and will fall back to Dockerfile. Docker only will search for Dockerfile in the context directory.

Dockerfile is an alternate name for the same object. Containerfile and Dockerfile support the same syntax.

SYNOPSIS¶

INSTRUCTION arguments

For example:

FROM image

DESCRIPTION¶

A Containerfile is a file that automates the steps of creating a container image. A Containerfile is similar to a Makefile.

USAGE¶

  buildah bud .


  podman build .

-- Runs the steps and commits them, building a final image.
The path to the source repository defines where to find the context of the
build.

  buildah bud -t repository/tag .


  podman build -t repository/tag .

-- specifies a repository and tag at which to save the new image if the build
succeeds. The container engine runs the steps one-by-one, committing the result
to a new image if necessary, before finally outputting the ID of the new
image.

Container engines re-use intermediate images whenever possible. This significantly
accelerates the build process.

FORMAT¶

FROM image

FROM image:tag

FROM image@digest

-- The FROM instruction sets the base image for subsequent instructions. A
valid Containerfile must have FROM as its first instruction. The image can be any
valid image. It is easy to start by pulling an image from the public
repositories.

-- FROM must be the first non-comment instruction in Containerfile.

-- FROM may appear multiple times within a single Containerfile in order to create
multiple images. Make a note of the last image ID output by the commit before
each new FROM command.

-- If no tag is given to the FROM instruction, container engines apply the
latest tag. If the used tag does not exist, an error is returned.

-- If no digest is given to the FROM instruction, container engines apply the
latest tag. If the used tag does not exist, an error is returned.

MAINTAINER
-- MAINTAINER sets the Author field for the generated images.
Useful for providing users with an email or url for support.

RUN
-- RUN has two forms:

  # the command is run in a shell - /bin/sh -c


  RUN <command>


  # Executable form


  RUN ["executable", "param1", "param2"]

*RUN Secrets

The RUN command has a feature to allow the passing of secret information into the image build. These secrets files can be used during the RUN command but are not committed to the final image. The RUN command supports the --mount option to identify the secret file. A secret file from the host is mounted into the container while the image is being built.

Container engines pass secret the secret file into the build using the --secret flag.

*RUN --mount options:

shows secret from default secret location:¶

RUN --mount=type=secret,id=mysecret cat /run/secrets/mysecret

shows secret from custom secret location:¶

RUN --mount=type=secret,id=mysecret,dst=/foobar cat /foobar

The secret needs to be passed to the build using the --secret flag. The final image built does not container the secret file:

 buildah bud --no-cache --secret id=mysecret,src=mysecret.txt .

-- The RUN instruction executes any commands in a new layer on top of the current
image and commits the results. The committed image is used for the next step in
Containerfile.

-- Layering RUN instructions and generating commits conforms to the core
concepts of container engines where commits are cheap and containers can be created from
any point in the history of an image. This is similar to source control. The
exec form makes it possible to avoid shell string munging. The exec form makes
it possible to RUN commands using a base image that does not contain /bin/sh.

Note that the exec form is parsed as a JSON array, which means that you must
use double-quotes (") around words not single-quotes (').

CMD
-- CMD has three forms:

  # Executable form


  CMD ["executable", "param1", "param2"]`


  # Provide default arguments to ENTRYPOINT


  CMD ["param1", "param2"]`


  # the command is run in a shell - /bin/sh -c


  CMD command param1 param2

-- There should be only one CMD in a Containerfile. If more than one CMD is listed, only
the last CMD takes effect.
The main purpose of a CMD is to provide defaults for an executing container.
These defaults may include an executable, or they can omit the executable. If
they omit the executable, an ENTRYPOINT must be specified.
When used in the shell or exec formats, the CMD instruction sets the command to
be executed when running the image.
If you use the shell form of the CMD, the <command> executes in /bin/sh -c:

Note that the exec form is parsed as a JSON array, which means that you must
use double-quotes (") around words not single-quotes (').

  FROM ubuntu


  CMD echo "This is a test." | wc -

-- If you run command without a shell, then you must express the command as a
JSON array and give the full path to the executable. This array form is the
preferred form of CMD. All additional parameters must be individually expressed
as strings in the array:

  FROM ubuntu


  CMD ["/usr/bin/wc","--help"]

-- To make the container run the same executable every time, use ENTRYPOINT in
combination with CMD.
If the user specifies arguments to podman run or docker run, the specified commands
override the default in CMD.
Do not confuse RUN with CMD. RUN runs a command and commits the result.
CMD executes nothing at build time, but specifies the intended command for
the image.

LABEL
-- LABEL <key>=<value> [<key>=<value> ...]or

  LABEL <key>[ <value>]


  LABEL <key>[ <value>]


  ...

The LABEL instruction adds metadata to an image. A LABEL is a
key-value pair. To specify a LABEL without a value, simply use an empty
string. To include spaces within a LABEL value, use quotes and
backslashes as you would in command-line parsing.

  LABEL com.example.vendor="ACME Incorporated"


  LABEL com.example.vendor "ACME Incorporated"


  LABEL com.example.vendor.is-beta ""


  LABEL com.example.vendor.is-beta=


  LABEL com.example.vendor.is-beta=""

An image can have more than one label. To specify multiple labels, separate
each key-value pair by a space.

Labels are additive including LABELs in FROM images. As the system
encounters and then applies a new label, new keys override any previous
labels with identical keys.

To display an image's labels, use the buildah inspect command.

EXPOSE
-- EXPOSE <port> [<port>...]
The EXPOSE instruction informs the container engine that the container listens on the
specified network ports at runtime. The container engine uses this information to
interconnect containers using links and to set up port redirection on the host
system.

ENV
-- ENV <key> <value>
The ENV instruction sets the environment variable to
the value <value>. This value is passed to all future
RUN, ENTRYPOINT, and CMD instructions. This is
functionally equivalent to prefixing the command with <key>=<value>. The
environment variables that are set with ENV persist when a container is run
from the resulting image. Use podman inspect to inspect these values, and
change them using podman run --env <key>=<value>.

Note that setting "ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive" may cause
unintended consequences, because it will persist when the container is run
interactively, as with the following command: podman run -t -i image bash

ADD
-- ADD has two forms:

  ADD <src> <dest>


  # Required for paths with whitespace


  ADD ["<src>",... "<dest>"]

The ADD instruction copies new files, directories
or remote file URLs to the filesystem of the container at path <dest>.
Multiple <src> resources may be specified but if they are files or directories
then they must be relative to the source directory that is being built
(the context of the build). The <dest> is the absolute path, or path relative
to WORKDIR, into which the source is copied inside the target container.
If the <src> argument is a local file in a recognized compression format
(tar, gzip, bzip2, etc) then it is unpacked at the specified <dest> in the
container's filesystem. Note that only local compressed files will be unpacked,
i.e., the URL download and archive unpacking features cannot be used together.
All new directories are created with mode 0755 and with the uid and gid of 0.

COPY
-- COPY has two forms:

  COPY <src> <dest>


  # Required for paths with whitespace


  COPY ["<src>",... "<dest>"]

The COPY instruction copies new files from <src> and
adds them to the filesystem of the container at path . The <src> must be
the path to a file or directory relative to the source directory that is
being built (the context of the build) or a remote file URL. The <dest> is an
absolute path, or a path relative to WORKDIR, into which the source will
be copied inside the target container. If you COPY an archive file it will
land in the container exactly as it appears in the build context without any
attempt to unpack it. All new files and directories are created with mode 0755
and with the uid and gid of 0.

ENTRYPOINT
-- ENTRYPOINT has two forms:

  # executable form


  ENTRYPOINT ["executable", "param1", "param2"]`


  # run command in a shell - /bin/sh -c


  ENTRYPOINT command param1 param2

-- An ENTRYPOINT helps you configure a
container that can be run as an executable. When you specify an ENTRYPOINT,
the whole container runs as if it was only that executable. The ENTRYPOINT
instruction adds an entry command that is not overwritten when arguments are
passed to podman run. This is different from the behavior of CMD. This allows
arguments to be passed to the entrypoint, for instance podman run <image> -d
passes the -d argument to the ENTRYPOINT. Specify parameters either in the
ENTRYPOINT JSON array (as in the preferred exec form above), or by using a CMD
statement. Parameters in the ENTRYPOINT are not overwritten by the podman run arguments. Parameters specified via CMD are overwritten by podman run arguments. Specify a plain string for the ENTRYPOINT, and it will execute in
/bin/sh -c, like a CMD instruction:

  FROM ubuntu


  ENTRYPOINT wc -l -

This means that the Containerfile's image always takes stdin as input (that's
what "-" means), and prints the number of lines (that's what "-l" means). To
make this optional but default, use a CMD:

  FROM ubuntu


  CMD ["-l", "-"]


  ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/bin/wc"]

VOLUME
-- VOLUME ["/data"]
The VOLUME instruction creates a mount point with the specified name and marks
it as holding externally-mounted volumes from the native host or from other
containers.

USER
-- USER daemon
Sets the username or UID used for running subsequent commands.

The USER instruction can optionally be used to set the group or GID. The
following examples are all valid:
USER [user | user:group | uid | uid:gid | user:gid | uid:group ]

Until the USER instruction is set, instructions will be run as root. The USER
instruction can be used any number of times in a Containerfile, and will only affect
subsequent commands.

WORKDIR
-- WORKDIR /path/to/workdir
The WORKDIR instruction sets the working directory for the RUN, CMD,
ENTRYPOINT, COPY and ADD Containerfile commands that follow it. It can
be used multiple times in a single Containerfile. Relative paths are defined
relative to the path of the previous WORKDIR instruction. For example:

  WORKDIR /a


  WORKDIR b


  WORKDIR c


  RUN pwd

In the above example, the output of the pwd command is a/b/c.

ARG
-- ARG [=]

The ARG instruction defines a variable that users can pass at build-time to
the builder with the podman build command using the --build-arg
<varname>=<value> flag. If a user specifies a build argument that was not
defined in the Containerfile, the build outputs a warning.

  [Warning] One or more build-args [foo] were not consumed

The Containerfile author can define a single variable by specifying ARG once or many
variables by specifying ARG more than once. For example, a valid Containerfile:

  FROM busybox


  ARG user1


  ARG buildno


  ...

A Containerfile author may optionally specify a default value for an ARG instruction:

  FROM busybox


  ARG user1=someuser


  ARG buildno=1


  ...

If an ARG value has a default and if there is no value passed at build-time, the
builder uses the default.

An ARG variable definition comes into effect from the line on which it is
defined in the Containerfile not from the argument's use on the command-line or
elsewhere. For example, consider this Containerfile:

  1 FROM busybox


  2 USER ${user:-some_user}


  3 ARG user


  4 USER $user


  ...

A user builds this file by calling:

  $ podman build --build-arg user=what_user Containerfile

The USER at line 2 evaluates to some_user as the user variable is defined on the
subsequent line 3. The USER at line 4 evaluates to what_user as user is
defined and the what_user value was passed on the command line. Prior to its definition by an
ARG instruction, any use of a variable results in an empty string.

You can use an ARG or an ENV instruction to specify variables that are
available to the RUN instruction. Environment variables defined using the
ENV instruction always override an ARG instruction of the same name. Consider
this Containerfile with an ENV and ARG instruction.

  1 FROM ubuntu


  2 ARG CONT_IMG_VER


  3 ENV CONT_IMG_VER=v1.0.0


  4 RUN echo $CONT_IMG_VER

Then, assume this image is built with this command:

  $ podman build --build-arg CONT_IMG_VER=v2.0.1 Containerfile

In this case, the RUN instruction uses v1.0.0 instead of the ARG setting
passed by the user:v2.0.1 This behavior is similar to a shell
script where a locally scoped variable overrides the variables passed as
arguments or inherited from environment, from its point of definition.

Using the example above but a different ENV specification you can create more
useful interactions between ARG and ENV instructions:

  1 FROM ubuntu


  2 ARG CONT_IMG_VER


  3 ENV CONT_IMG_VER=${CONT_IMG_VER:-v1.0.0}


  4 RUN echo $CONT_IMG_VER

Unlike an ARG instruction, ENV values are always persisted in the built
image. Consider a podman build without the --build-arg flag:

  $ podman build Containerfile

Using this Containerfile example, CONT_IMG_VER is still persisted in the image but
its value would be v1.0.0 as it is the default set in line 3 by the ENV instruction.

The variable expansion technique in this example allows you to pass arguments
from the command line and persist them in the final image by leveraging the
ENV instruction. Variable expansion is only supported for a limited set of
Containerfile instructions. ⟨#environment-replacement⟩

Container engines have a set of predefined ARG variables that you can use without a
corresponding ARG instruction in the Containerfile.

To use these, pass them on the command line using --build-arg flag, for
example:

  $ podman build --build-arg HTTPS_PROXY=https://my-proxy.example.com .

ONBUILD
-- ONBUILD [INSTRUCTION]
The ONBUILD instruction adds a trigger instruction to an image. The
trigger is executed at a later time, when the image is used as the base for
another build. Container engines execute the trigger in the context of the downstream
build, as if the trigger existed immediately after the FROM instruction in
the downstream Containerfile.

You can register any build instruction as a trigger. A trigger is useful if
you are defining an image to use as a base for building other images. For
example, if you are defining an application build environment or a daemon that
is customized with a user-specific configuration.

Consider an image intended as a reusable python application builder. It must
add application source code to a particular directory, and might need a build
script called after that. You can't just call ADD and RUN now, because
you don't yet have access to the application source code, and it is different
for each application build.

-- Providing application developers with a boilerplate Containerfile to copy-paste
into their application is inefficient, error-prone, and
difficult to update because it mixes with application-specific code.
The solution is to use ONBUILD to register instructions in advance, to
run later, during the next build stage.

SEE ALSO¶

buildah(1), podman(1), docker(1)

HISTORY¶

*May 2014, Compiled by Zac Dover (zdover at redhat dot com) based on docker.com Dockerfile documentation. *Feb 2015, updated by Brian Goff (cpuguy83@gmail.com) for readability *Sept 2015, updated by Sally O'Malley (somalley@redhat.com) *Oct 2016, updated by Addam Hardy (addam.hardy@gmail.com) *Aug 2021, converted Dockerfile man page to Containerfile by Dan Walsh (dwalsh@redhat.com)