docker-source-to-images (sti)
Source-to-images (sti
) is a tool for building reproducable Docker images. sti
produces
ready-to-run images by injecting a user source into a docker image and assembling
a new Docker image which incorporates the base image and built source, and is ready to use
with docker run
. sti
supports incremental builds which re-use previously downloaded
dependencies, previously built artifacts, etc
Interested in learning more? Read on!
Want to just get started now? Check out the instructions.
Philosophy
- Simplify the process of application source + base image -> usable image for most use cases (the
80%)
- Define and implement a workflow for incremental build that eventually uses only docker
primitives
- Develop tooling that can assist in verifying that two different base images result in the same
"docker run" outcome for the same input
- Use native docker primitives to accomplish this - map out useful improvements to docker that
benefit all image builders
Anatomy of a source image
Building source images is easy. sti
expects you to supply the following scripts to use with an
image:
assemble
: This script builds and/or deploys the source
run
: This script runs the deployed source
save-artifacts
(optional): This script saves the build context for an incremental build
Build methodologies
sti
builds images with docker run
. The workflow is:
sti
creates a container based on the build image. with:
- The application source bind-mounted to
/tmp/src
- The build artifacts bind-mounted to
/tmp/artifacts
(if applicable - see incremental builds)
- Runs the build image's
assemble
script
sti
starts the container and waits for it to finish running
sti
commits the container, setting the CMD for the output image to be the run
script and tagging the image with the name provided.
Basic (--clean
) builds
sti
accepts the following inputs to do a build:
- Application source: this can be source code, zipped source, a binary, etc
- Build image: the basis for the new image to build
- Application image tag: the tag to use for the newly created application image
The basic build process is as follows:
sti
pulls the build image if it is not already present on the system
sti
builds the new image from the supplied build image and source, tagging the output image
with the supplied tag
Incremental builds
sti
automatically detects:
- Whether a source image is compatible with incremental building
- Whether an incremental build can be formed when an image is compatible
If a save-artifacts script exists, a prior build already exists, and the --clean
option is not used,
the workflow is as follows:
sti
creates a new docker container from the prior build image, with a volume in /tmp/artifacts
sti
runs save-artifacts
in this container - this script is responsible for copying
the build artifacts into /tmp/artifacts
.
sti
builds the new output image using the selected build methodology:
- The artifacts from the previous build will be in
/tmp/artifacts
during the build
- The build image's
assemble
script is responsible for detecting and using the build
artifacts
Note the invocation of the save-artifacts
script; this script is responsible for moving build
dependencies to /tmp/artifacts
Dependencies
- Docker
- Go
Installation
go get github.com/openshift/geard
src/github.com/openshift/geard/contrib/build
Getting Started
You can start using sti right away with the following test sources and publicly available images:
sti build git://github.com/pmorie/simple-ruby openshift/ruby-19-centos test-ruby-app
docker run -rm -i -p :9292 -t test-ruby-app
sti build git://github.com/pmorie/simple-ruby openshift/buildpack-ubuntu test-foreman-app \
-e 'BUILDPACK_URL=https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-ruby.git'
docker run -rm -i -p :5000 -t test-foreman-app
sti build git://github.com/pmorie/simple-html pmorie/fedora-mock test-html-app
docker run -rm -i -p :8080 -t sti_app
Building a Deployable Image
sti build SOURCE BUILD_IMAGE APP_IMAGE_TAG [flags]
Available Flags:
--callbackUrl="": Specify a URL to invoke via HTTP POST upon build completion
--clean=false: Perform a clean build
-e, --env="": Specify an environment var NAME=VALUE,NAME2=VALUE2,...
-r, --ref="": Specify a ref to check-out
--rm=false: Remove the previous image during incremental builds
--savetempdir=false: Save the temporary directory used by STI instead of deleting it
-s, --scripts="": Specify a URL for the assemble and run scripts
-U, --url="unix:///var/run/docker.sock": Set the url of the docker socket to use
--verbose=false: Enable verbose output
The most basic sti build
uses a single build image:
sti build SOURCE BUILD_IMAGE_TAG APP_IMAGE_TAG
If the build is successful, the built image will be tagged with APP_IMAGE_TAG
.
If the build image is compatible with incremental builds, sti build
will look for an image tagged
with APP_IMAGE_TAG
. If an image is present with that tag, and a save-artifacts
script is present, sti build
will save the build
artifacts from that image and add them to the build container at /tmp/artifacts
so the assemble
script can restore them before building the source.
When using an image that supports incremental builds, you can do a clean build with --clean
:
sti build SOURCE BUILD_IMAGE_TAG APP_IMAGE_TAG --clean
Using scripts from a URL
You don't need a special image to use with sti
. You can use any set of assemble
/run
/
save-artifacts
scripts with any image you want by specifying a URL:
sti build SOURCE BUILD_IMAGE_TAG APP_IMAGE_TAG -s <url>
If you're creating an image and you want to supply a default set of scripts to use with sti, you
can specify the STI_SCRIPTS_URL
environment variable in your Dockerfile
:
ENV STI_SCRIPTS_URL <url>
Using scripts from an application
You can also supply assemble/run/save-artifacts scripts in your application source. The scripts
must be located under .sti/bin
within the root of your source directory.
Script precedence
STI selects which location to use for a given script (assemble, run, and save-artifacts) based on
the following ordering:
- A script found at the --scripts URL
- A script found in the application source
.sti/bin
directory
- A script found at the default image URL (STI_SCRIPTS_URL)
Build from a git ref
When the source is a git repo, sti
can check out a git ref before doing the build:
sti build SOURCE BUILD_IMAGE_TAG APP_IMAGE_TAG -r <ref>
If the ref is invalid or not present in the source repo, the build will fail.
Build callbacks
Upon completion (or failure) of a build, sti
can HTTP POST to a URL with information about the
build:
sti build SOURCE BUILD_IMAGE_TAG APP_IMAGE_TAG --callbackUrl=<url>
The data posted will be of the form:
{
"payload": "A string containing all build messages",
"success": true
}