Dockerfile vs buildah vs podman

[dmsimard]

https://github.com/ansible-community/images/blob/main/ansible-test/centos-stream8/build.sh suggests an approach that uses buildah to build container images instead of Docker and Dockerfiles.

Although this may be controversial, I thought it was important to try in order to demonstrate what it would look like even if we end up deciding on using Dockerfiles like the ones provided by ansible-test instead.

Feel free to discuss here.

[konstruktoid]

Even if the build scripts aren’t complicated, using buildah seems like an overly complicated way of doing this compared to using a Dockerfile, especially since the code doesn't actually create a image but only modify an existing one.

And by using Dockerfile we support both docker and podman.

[felixfontein]

The main advantage of using buildah over Dockerfiles is that it allows to mount files/directories during the build process. With Dockerfiles, you have to copy their content in (and later delete them again).

[konstruktoid]

The main advantage of using buildah over Dockerfiles is that it allows to mount files/directories during the build process.

That's possible with Docker/podman volumes as well.

With Dockerfiles, you have to copy their content in (and later delete them again).

Is that an issue?
And I assume the containers are ephemeral and will be deleted anway.

[dmsimard]

Even if the build scripts aren’t complicated, using buildah seems like an overly complicated way of doing this compared to using a Dockerfile, especially since the code doesn't actually create a image but only modify an existing one.

I find bash far more simple and powerful than the Dockerfile language and daemon intricacies but that's just my opinion and I'd rather avoid getting into an unproductive political/holy debate like vim vs emacs. It's OK if you prefer something else.

And by using Dockerfile we support both docker and podman.

I would say it is a requirement for the built and published images to work under both Docker and podman but thankfully that is mostly a solved problem (thank you, OCI standards).

However, I don't see a need or requirement to lock ourselves into a single toolkit for building the images themselves.

Contributors are welcome to submit (and maintain!) Dockerfiles if that is what they need or what they prefer.