How to avoid reinstalling packages when building Docker image for Python projects?

by

Try to build a Dockerfile which looks something like this:

FROM my/base

WORKDIR /srv
ADD ./requirements.txt /srv/requirements.txt
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
ADD . /srv
RUN python setup.py install

ENTRYPOINT ["run_server"]

Docker will use cache during pip install as long as you do not make any changes to the requirements.txt, irrespective of the fact whether other code files at . were changed or not. Here’s an example.

Here’s a simple Hello, World! program:

$ tree
.
├── Dockerfile
├── requirements.txt
└── run.py   

0 directories, 3 file

# Dockerfile

FROM dockerfile/python
WORKDIR /srv
ADD ./requirements.txt /srv/requirements.txt
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
ADD . /srv
CMD python /srv/run.py

# requirements.txt
pytest==2.3.4

# run.py
print("Hello, World")

The output of docker build:

Step 1 : WORKDIR /srv
---> Running in 22d725d22e10
---> 55768a00fd94
Removing intermediate container 22d725d22e10
Step 2 : ADD ./requirements.txt /srv/requirements.txt
---> 968a7c3a4483
Removing intermediate container 5f4e01f290fd
Step 3 : RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
---> Running in 08188205e92b
Downloading/unpacking pytest==2.3.4 (from -r requirements.txt (line 1))
  Running setup.py (path:/tmp/pip_build_root/pytest/setup.py) egg_info for package pytest
....
Cleaning up...
---> bf5c154b87c9
Removing intermediate container 08188205e92b
Step 4 : ADD . /srv
---> 3002a3a67e72
Removing intermediate container 83defd1851d0
Step 5 : CMD python /srv/run.py
---> Running in 11e69b887341
---> 5c0e7e3726d6
Removing intermediate container 11e69b887341
Successfully built 5c0e7e3726d6

Let’s modify run.py:

# run.py
print("Hello, Python")

Try to build again, below is the output:

Sending build context to Docker daemon  5.12 kB
Sending build context to Docker daemon 
Step 0 : FROM dockerfile/python
---> f86d6993fc7b
Step 1 : WORKDIR /srv
---> Using cache
---> 55768a00fd94
Step 2 : ADD ./requirements.txt /srv/requirements.txt
---> Using cache
---> 968a7c3a4483
Step 3 : RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
---> Using cache
---> bf5c154b87c9
Step 4 : ADD . /srv
---> 9cc7508034d6
Removing intermediate container 0d7cf71eb05e
Step 5 : CMD python /srv/run.py
---> Running in f25c21135010
---> 4ffab7bc66c7
Removing intermediate container f25c21135010
Successfully built 4ffab7bc66c7

As you can see above, this time docker uses cache during the build. Now, let’s update requirements.txt:

# requirements.txt

pytest==2.3.4
ipython

Below is the output of docker build:

Sending build context to Docker daemon  5.12 kB
Sending build context to Docker daemon 
Step 0 : FROM dockerfile/python
---> f86d6993fc7b
Step 1 : WORKDIR /srv
---> Using cache
---> 55768a00fd94
Step 2 : ADD ./requirements.txt /srv/requirements.txt
---> b6c19f0643b5
Removing intermediate container a4d9cb37dff0
Step 3 : RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
---> Running in 4b7a85a64c33
Downloading/unpacking pytest==2.3.4 (from -r requirements.txt (line 1))
  Running setup.py (path:/tmp/pip_build_root/pytest/setup.py) egg_info for package pytest

Downloading/unpacking ipython (from -r requirements.txt (line 2))
Downloading/unpacking py>=1.4.12 (from pytest==2.3.4->-r requirements.txt (line 1))
  Running setup.py (path:/tmp/pip_build_root/py/setup.py) egg_info for package py

Installing collected packages: pytest, ipython, py
  Running setup.py install for pytest

Installing py.test script to /usr/local/bin
Installing py.test-2.7 script to /usr/local/bin
  Running setup.py install for py

Successfully installed pytest ipython py
Cleaning up...
---> 23a1af3df8ed
Removing intermediate container 4b7a85a64c33
Step 4 : ADD . /srv
---> d8ae270eca35
Removing intermediate container 7f003ebc3179
Step 5 : CMD python /srv/run.py
---> Running in 510359cf9e12
---> e42fc9121a77
Removing intermediate container 510359cf9e12
Successfully built e42fc9121a77

Notice how docker didn’t use cache during pip install. If it doesn’t work, check your docker version.

Client version: 1.1.2
Client API version: 1.13
Go version (client): go1.2.1
Git commit (client): d84a070
Server version: 1.1.2
Server API version: 1.13
Go version (server): go1.2.1
Git commit (server): d84a070

More Related Contents:

  1. Deploying a minimal flask app in docker – server connection issues
  2. Python app does not print anything when running detached in docker
  3. Is distributing python source code in Docker secure?
  4. Error: pg_config executable not found when installing psycopg2 on Alpine in Docker
  5. standard_init_linux.go:178: exec user process caused “exec format error”
  6. Django connection to postgres by docker-compose
  7. Docker how to run pip requirements.txt only if there was a change?
  8. Can’t install pip packages inside a docker container with Ubuntu
  9. Flask CLI throws ‘OSError: [Errno 8] Exec format error’ when run through docker-compose
  10. Reading in environment variables from an environment file
  11. installing cPickle with python 3.5
  12. WARNING: Running pip as the ‘root’ user
  13. Activate python virtualenv in Dockerfile
  14. toomanyrequests: You have reached your pull rate limit. You may increase the limit by authenticating and upgrading
  15. Integrating Python Poetry with Docker
  16. ImportError: cannot import name ‘soft_unicode’ from ‘markupsafe’
  17. Encrypted and secure docker containers
  18. Docker- django throws error while connecting to postgres: psycopg2.OperationalError: could not connect to server: Connection refused
  19. standard_init_linux.go:211: exec user process caused “exec format error”
  20. Using a pip cache directory in docker builds
  21. Installing numpy on Docker Alpine
  22. Install Oracle Instant client into Docker container for Python cx_Oracle
  23. Python multiprocessing application is getting stuck in docker container
  24. What’s the difference between Docker and Python virtualenv?
  25. Access Jupyter notebook running on Docker container
  26. How do I reduce a python (docker) image size using a multi-stage build?
  27. Activate conda environment in docker
  28. Are Python variables pointers? Or else, what are they?
  29. Calculate weighted average using a pandas/dataframe
  30. Ambiguity in Pandas Dataframe / Numpy Array “axis” definition

Leave a Comment