I thought Docker builds are not generally repeatable, since they often `apt-get update && apt-get install`, which depends on the current state of external package management?
They are definitely not reproducible in the sense of building bit-for-bit identical containers, unless you use Bazel.
That being said, I've found Dockerfiles to be a much more reliable build process than most others (recently struggled to get through LogDevice's cmake-based build.. ugh).
You’re correct, but how reproducible you’re builds end up being depends on how you use it, and how reproducible you need them to be depends on your use case. Maybe a particular use case wouldn’t fit in very well, maybe it would be better served by using something like packer, maybe your dependency management requirements mean you should use something like artifactory. No technology is going to be suitable for everybody’s needs, but Docker provides enough value to enough people that it’s found a place in the market. If it Docker dies, I’d imagine it would be because it was replaced by something better, not because people suddenly realized that they weren’t getting any value out of it.
They are definitely not reproducible in the sense of building bit-for-bit identical containers, unless you use Bazel.
That being said, I've found Dockerfiles to be a much more reliable build process than most others (recently struggled to get through LogDevice's cmake-based build.. ugh).