Docker force-build parent image

Question

I'm running a multi-service application with several images. The environment of each image is pretty much similar, so, in order to avoid code duplication, a "base" image is created/tagged with the required programs/configuration. Then, this "base" image is used as a parent image for the various "application" images. An (illustrative) example is given below:

dockerfile_base: which I build with docker build -f dockerfile_base -t app_base:latest .

FROM ubuntu:latest
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y 
    build-essentials 
    

dockerfile_1: which is built with docker build -f dockerfile_1 -t app_1 .

FROM app_base:latest
COPY . .
RUN make test

And finally an example dockerfile_2 which describes a different service based again on "app_base" and is built with docker build -f dockerfile_2 -t app_2 .

FROM app_base:latest
COPY . .
RUN make deploy

Usually, the "base" image is built manually at first. Then, the "app" images are also manually built. Finally, the services (images app_1, app_2, etc.) are run using docker run for tests or docker-compose for demo deployment.

This creates an issue: When working on a new workspace (e.g. a newcomer's PC) where no docker images are yet created, or when something changes in the "dockerfile_base", running just the docker build command for the app images will result in error or incorrect images. So, the question is: is there a way in docker to define these chain-builds? I guess that's difficult for docker build command, but would it be possible with docker-compose?

Answer 1

Multi-stage builds were invented for problems like this. An example might be:

FROM ubuntu:latest as app_base
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y build-essentials 
    
FROM app_base as app_name
COPY . .
RUN make