docker-zig

A lightweight Docker image based on Alpine Linux for building and testing Zig projects. It supports both official release versions and in-development builds of the Zig compiler. The image is published to Docker Hub as shmolyneaux/ziglang and built automatically via Drone CI.

Usage

Build an image with an official Zig release:

docker build . --build-arg VERSION=0.8.0

Build an image with an in-development Zig version:

docker build . --build-arg DEV_BUILD=0.9.0-dev.1139+affd8f8b5

Run the Zig compiler inside the container:

docker run --rm shmolyneaux/ziglang:0.9.0-dev.1139 zig version

Features

• Alpine-based — minimal image size.
• Release builds — specify any released Zig version via the VERSION build arg (default 0.7.1).
• Dev builds — specify any in-development Zig version via the DEV_BUILD build arg, which downloads from ziglang.org/builds.
• CI/CD — automated Docker Hub publishing on push via Drone CI.

Limitations

• Only supports linux-x86_64 Zig binaries.
• No pre-installed system libraries beyond what Alpine provides — projects with C dependencies may need additional packages.
• The default VERSION build arg may not reflect the latest Zig release; always specify your desired version explicitly.

History

Development on docker-zig started 2021-07-30, and largely stopped on 2021-09-21:

• 2021-07-30 — Initial commit with Dockerfile (Zig 0.7.1 default), Drone CI pipeline for building and pushing the 0.8.0 release image, LICENSE (MIT), and README.
• 2021-07-30 — Fixed Drone CI build args syntax.
• 2021-09-21 — Added support for in-development (dev) Zig builds via a new DEV_BUILD build arg; updated Drone pipeline to build 0.9.0-dev.1139.
• 2021-09-21 — Updated README with usage instructions for both release and dev builds.