experimental.md

Dockerfile frontend experimental syntaxes

Note for Docker users

If you are using Docker v18.06 or later, BuildKit mode can be enabled by setting export DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 on the client side. Docker v18.06 also requires the daemon to be running in experimental mode.

You need to use docker build CLI instead of buildctl CLI mentioned in this document. See the docker build document for the usage.

Use experimental Dockerfile frontend

The features mentioned in this document are experimentally available as docker/dockerfile:experimental image.

To use the experimental features, the first line of your Dockerfile needs to be # syntax=docker/dockerfile:experimental. As the experimental syntaxes may change in future revisions, you may want to pin the image to a specific revision.

See also #528 for further information about planned docker/dockerfile releases.

Experimental syntaxes

RUN --mount=type=bind (the default mount type)

This mount type allows binding directories (read-only) in the context or in an image to the build container.

Option	Description
target (required)	Mount path.
source	Source path in the from. Defaults to the root of the from.
from	Build stage or image name for the root of the source. Defaults to the build context.
rw,readwrite	Allow writes on the mount. Written data will be discarded.

RUN --mount=type=cache

This mount type allows the build container to cache directories for compilers and package managers.

Option	Description
id	Optional ID to identify separate/different caches
target (required)	Mount path.
ro,readonly	Read-only if set.
sharing	One of shared, private, or locked. Defaults to shared. A shared cache mount can be used concurrently by multiple writers. private creates a new mount if there are multiple writers. locked pauses the second writer until the first one releases the mount.
from	Build stage to use as a base of the cache mount. Defaults to empty directory.
source	Subpath in the from to mount. Defaults to the root of the from.

Example: cache Go packages

# syntax = docker/dockerfile:experimental
FROM golang
...
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/go-build go build ...

Example: cache apt packages

# syntax = docker/dockerfile:experimental
FROM ubuntu
RUN rm -f /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/docker-clean; echo 'Binary::apt::APT::Keep-Downloaded-Packages "true";' > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/keep-cache
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/var/cache/apt --mount=type=cache,target=/var/lib/apt \
  apt update && apt install -y gcc

RUN --mount=type=tmpfs

This mount type allows mounting tmpfs in the build container.

Option	Description
target (required)	Mount path.

RUN --mount=type=secret

This mount type allows the build container to access secure files such as private keys without baking them into the image.

Option	Description
id	ID of the secret. Defaults to basename of the target path.
target	Mount path. Defaults to /run/secrets/ + id.
required	If set to true, the instruction errors out when the secret is unavailable. Defaults to false.

Example: access to S3

# syntax = docker/dockerfile:experimental
FROM python:3
RUN pip install awscli
RUN --mount=type=secret,id=aws,target=/root/.aws/credentials aws s3 cp s3://... ...

$ buildctl build --frontend=dockerfile.v0 --local context=. --local dockerfile=. \
  --secret id=aws,src=$HOME/.aws/credentials

RUN --mount=type=ssh

This mount type allows the build container to access SSH keys via SSH agents, with support for passphrases.

Option	Description
id	ID of SSH agent socket or key. Defaults to "default".
target	SSH agent socket path. Defaults to /run/buildkit/ssh_agent.${N}.
required	If set to true, the instruction errors out when the key is unavailable. Defaults to false.

Example: access to Gitlab

# syntax = docker/dockerfile:experimental
FROM alpine
RUN apk add --no-cache openssh-client
RUN mkdir -p -m 0700 ~/.ssh && ssh-keyscan gitlab.com >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts
RUN --mount=type=ssh ssh git@gitlab.com | tee /hello
# "Welcome to GitLab, @GITLAB_USERNAME_ASSOCIATED_WITH_SSHKEY" should be printed here

$ eval $(ssh-agent)
$ ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
(Input your passphrase here)
$ buildctl build --frontend=dockerfile.v0 --local context=. --local dockerfile=. \
  --ssh default=$SSH_AUTH_SOCK

You can also specify a path to *.pem file on the host directly instead of $SSH_AUTH_SOCK. However, pem files with passphrases are not supported.