image deprecation warnings or notifications

[unclejack]

Some Docker users have found documentation on the Internet which still hasn't been updated to reflect the fact that the base image is being deprecated and that the ubuntu images should be used instead. Some other users have been using Docker since base was the image the docs were recommending as the standard image.

There should be a way to let users know an image has been deprecated. Here are some options on how users could be warned or notified that a particular image is being deprecated :

1. display a warning on the index page of that image (can be combined with other options or used as a standalone option)
2. display a warning when the user pulls the image from the registry (alternative to 3)
3. start serving the image with a deprecation flag once it's marked for deprecation (alternative to 2)
4. add a new flag to docker pull which only checks if an image (or any of its layers) is marked for deprecation (could be used together with 1 and 2)

This issue supersedes #1379.

[bkcsoft]

Would be nice if it can also point to a newer image (if available), e.g. base => ubuntu, both on index.docker.io (link perhaps) and when pulling with docker pull
Or something like a deprecation notice (e.g. "please use 'ubuntu' instead")

[unclejack]

@samalba @kencochrane It looks like there's a deprecation notice for the base image. Do you think anything else should be done for this issue?

[tianon]

IMO it would still be handy to have some kind of way to tell users of an image on-pull that they ought to be grabbing some other image instead, especially since people might not bother looking at index.docker.io or "docker search " before they just blindly "docker pull " or "docker run " or "docker build ." (where the Dockerfile contains "FROM "). I just see too many places where you can get that image without ever being told that it's not the one you ought to be using (short of deleting the image outright).

[iwinux]

+1

[elliotthilaire]

+1. As a new user to Docker, I have just lost a couple of hours this afternoon because I wasn't aware that the base image was deprecated. Having a deprecation notice when docker was pulling the image would have helped a lot.

[LK4D4]

@aaronlehmann @stevvooe This is very old issue. Do you think anything can be done on docker side and worth it?

[aaronlehmann]

Doesn't sound worth it to me.

[LK4D4]

Closing it then for now.