rudijs / alpine-node

Minimal Node/io.js Docker Images built on Alpine Linux

Minimal Node.js Docker Images (19MB, or 6.7MB compressed)

Versions v5.7.0, v4.3.1, v0.12.10, v0.10.42, and io.js – built on Alpine Linux.

All versions use the one mhart/alpine-node repository, but each version aligns with the following tags (ie, mhart/alpine-node:<tag>):

• Full install built with npm (2.14.19 unless specified):
  • latest, 5, 5.7, 5.7.0 – 36.94 MB (npm 3.7.3)
  • 4, 4.3, 4.3.1 – 36.68 MB
  • 0.12, 0.12.10 – 32.79 MB
  • 0.10, 0.10.42 – 28.23 MB
• Base install with node built as a static binary with no npm:
  • base, base-5, base-5.7, base-5.7.0 – 27.61 MB
  • base-4, base-4.3, base-4.3.1 – 27.75 MB
  • base-0.12, base-0.12.10 – 24.81 MB
  • base-0.10, base-0.10.42 – 18.98 MB

Major io.js versions are tagged too.

Example

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node node --version
v5.7.0

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node:4 node --version
v4.3.1

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node npm --version
3.7.3

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node:base node --version
v5.7.0

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node:3 iojs --version
v3.3.1

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node:base-0.10 node --version
v0.10.42

Example Dockerfile for your own Node.js project

If you don't have any native dependencies, ie only depend on pure-JS npm modules, then my suggestion is to run npm install locally before running docker build (and make sure node_modules isn't in your .dockerignore) – then you don't need an npm install step in your Dockerfile and you don't need npm installed in your Docker image – so you can use one of the smaller base* images.

FROM mhart/alpine-node:base
# FROM mhart/alpine-node:base-0.10
# FROM mhart/alpine-node

WORKDIR /src
ADD . .

# If you have native dependencies, you'll need extra tools
# RUN apk add --no-cache make gcc g++ python

# If you need npm, don't use a base tag
# RUN npm install

EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "index.js"]

Caveats

As Alpine Linux uses musl, you may run into some issues with environments expecting glibc-like behaviour (for example, Kubernetes). Some of these issues are documented here:

• http://gliderlabs.viewdocs.io/docker-alpine/caveats/
• gliderlabs/docker-alpine#8

Inspired by:

• https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/blob/454db196/main/nodejs/APKBUILD
• https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/blob/454db196/main/libuv/APKBUILD
• https://hub.docker.com/r/ficusio/nodejs-base/~/dockerfile/