Docker pulls more than it needs to - and how we can fix it
Hi all! I've built a small tool to visualize how inefficient `docker pull` is, in preparation for standing up a new Docker registry + transport. It's bugged me for a while that updating one dependency with Docker drags along many other changes. It's a huge problem with Docker+robotics. With dozens or hundreds of dependencies, there's no "right" way to organize the layers that doesn't end up invalidating a bunch of layers on a single dependency update - and this is ignoring things like compiled code, embedded ML weights, etc. Even worse, many robotics deployments are on terrible internet,…
Docker pulls more than it needs to - and how we can fix it launched on March 5, 2026 with 8 votes, #1,340 of 23,380 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches.
What it does
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hi all! I've built a small tool to visualize how inefficient `docker pull` is, in preparation for standing up a new Docker registry + transport. It's bugged me for a while that updating one dependency with Docker drags along many other changes. It's a huge problem with Docker+robotics. With dozens or hundreds of…
Does a similar job
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Building better base images2025 · github.com · ▲38This project addresses the inefficiencies of traditional Dockerfile-based container builds where each customization layer creates storage bloat through duplicate dependencies from repeated apt-get install commands, network inefficiency from redundant package downloads across different images, and slow iteration cycles requiring full rebuilds of all previous steps. Our solution enables building minimal base images from scratch using debootstrap that precisely include only required components in the initial build, while allowing creation of specialized variants (Java, Kafka, etc.) from these…
StableBuild – make any Docker container deterministic2024 · stablebuild.com · ▲8Hi HN! I've posted this a few weeks back without much HN traction - today we've added a free community tier, so anyone can try it out. TL;DR: We’ve launched StableBuild, a new tool to easily freeze and pin Docker images, operating system packages, Python packages, and arbitrary build dependencies; in 5 lines of code: https://stablebuild.com . As the CTO at an ML startup w/ 75 people (https://edgeimpulse.com/) I’ve grown incredibly frustrated with non-deterministic builds. Last year basically every week one of our containers (we have 40+ unique ones in prod)…
ClipperJul 2026 · clipper.dev · ▲3Hey HN! I've built clipper.dev - the fastest container repository in the world. (Big claim, I know.) It deduplicates at a file/chunk level, rather than at the layer level. I get around 10-20% faster pulls than docker (when using containerd for both) for fresh pulls. For some workflows, I see 80-90% faster patch pulls (think v0.17.5 -> 0.17.6). Here's a best case scenario for me (and worst case for dockerhub) docker> time sudo nerdctl pull ollama/ollama:0.17.5 docker.io/ollama/ollama:0.17.5: elapsed: 244.1s total: 2.9 Gi (12.3 MiB/s) real 4m4.172s user 0m0.115s sys…
- MBMy book “Using Docker” was released this week2016 · ▲9
Hi, I spent the last year and a half writing a book on Docker and microservices, which was finally released on O'Reilly this week. "Using Docker: Developing and Deploying Software with Containers" takes a holistic approach, showing how containers can be used as the central artifact in a modern software development workflow. If anyone has any q's or feedback, please feel free to comment below. The book is available at: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920035671.do (use code AUTHD for a discount)…
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