Bob was created out of the need to more easily build, tag, and push
layered docker images. Beyond what a normal docker build
would offer,
Bob offers the following:
- Build from multiple "Dockerfiles"
- In order for a docker build to have
context, the
Dockerfile
must be present in the code repo and must be named "Dockerfile". Bob makes this possible by performing your builds in a temporary directory, so you can name yourDockerfile
whatever you want.
Includes & Excludes
Sometimes, you want to tailor which of your application's files end up in your container, but writing an explicitADD
command for each file and directory is very tedious. Instead, by using Includes and Excludes, your temporary build directory will have only exactly the files you want. That way, instead of adding each file individually, you can simplyADD . <dir>
- NOTE: This functionality has been deprecated. The introduction
of
.dockerignore
takes care of the ability to exclude files, and theincluded
stanza by itself wasn't really providing much value. Still fun to see how early decisions were made!
- Tagging macros
- More often than not, in addition to a static tag, it is desirable to tag a docker container dynamically with, for example, the git revision of the associated code repo. Bob makes this easy for you with tagging macros.
- Seamless, reliable build, tag, & push process
- A typical docker build workflow can be a bit tedious and nuanced. Bob aims to abstract all of this and make the process much simpler
- Simply write your
Dockerfile
and let Bob take care of the rest!