Expert Python Programming - Third Edition

Reducing the size of containers

A common concern of new Docker users is the size of their container images. It's true that containers provide a lot of space overhead compared to plain Python packages, but it is usually nothing if we compare the size of images for virtual machines. However, it is still very common to host many services on a single virtual machine, but with a container-based approach, you should definitely have a separate image for every service. This means that with a lot of services, the overhead may become noticeable.

If you want to limit the size of your images, you can use two complementary techniques:

1. Use a base image that is designed specifically for that purpose: Alpine Linux is an example of a compact Linux distribution ...