Docker Quick Start Guide

What is a Dockerfile?

You learned in Chapter 2, Learning Docker Commands, that you can run a Docker container, make modifications to that running container, and then using the docker commit command, save those changes, effectively creating a new Docker image. Although this method works, it is not the preferred way to create Docker containers. The best way to create Docker images is to use the Docker image build command with a Dockerfile that describes your desired image.

A Dockerfile (yes, the correct spelling is all one word, with a capital D) is a text file that contains instructions used by the Docker daemon to create a Docker image. The instructions are defined using a type of value pair syntax. Each one has an instruction word followed ...