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

Question

My Dockerfile is something like

FROM my/base

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

ENTRYPOINT ["run_server"]

Every time I build a new image, dependencies have to be reinstalled, which could be very slow in my region.

One way I think of to cache packages that have been installed is to override the my/base image with newer images like this:

docker build -t new_image_1 .
docker tag new_image_1 my/base

So next time I build with this Dockerfile, my/base already has some packages installed.

But this solution has two problems:

1. It is not always possible to override a base image
2. The base image grow bigger and bigger as newer images are layered on it

So what better solution could I use to solve this problem?

EDIT:

Some information about the docker on my machine:

☁  test  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
☁  test  docker info
Containers: 0
Images: 56
Storage Driver: aufs
 Root Dir: /var/lib/docker/aufs
 Dirs: 56
Execution Driver: native-0.2
Kernel Version: 3.13.0-29-generic
WARNING: No swap limit support

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

I understand this question has some popular answers already. But there is a newer way to cache files for package managers. I think it could be a good answer in the future when BuildKit becomes more standard.

As of Docker 18.09 there is experimental support for BuildKit. BuildKit adds support for some new features in the Dockerfile including experimental support for mounting external volumes into RUN steps. This allows us to create caches for things like $HOME/.cache/pip/.

We'll use the following requirements.txt file as an example:

Click==7.0
Django==2.2.3
django-appconf==1.0.3
django-compressor==2.3
django-debug-toolbar==2.0
django-filter==2.2.0
django-reversion==3.0.4
django-rq==2.1.0
pytz==2019.1
rcssmin==1.0.6
redis==3.3.4
rjsmin==1.1.0
rq==1.1.0
six==1.12.0
sqlparse==0.3.0

A typical example Python Dockerfile might look like:

FROM python:3.7
WORKDIR /usr/src/app
COPY requirements.txt /usr/src/app/
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
COPY . /usr/src/app

With BuildKit enabled using the DOCKER_BUILDKIT environment variable we can build the uncached pip step in about 65 seconds:

$ export DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1
$ docker build -t test .
[+] Building 65.6s (10/10) FINISHED                                                                                                                                             
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                                                          0.0s
 => => transferring context: 2B                                                                                                                                            0.0s
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                                                                                       0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 120B                                                                                                                                       0.0s
 => [internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/python:3.7                                                                                                              0.5s
 => CACHED [1/4] FROM docker.io/library/python:3.7@sha256:6eaf19442c358afc24834a6b17a3728a45c129de7703d8583392a138ecbdb092                                                 0.0s
 => [internal] load build context                                                                                                                                          0.6s
 => => transferring context: 899.99kB                                                                                                                                      0.6s
 => CACHED [internal] helper image for file operations                                                                                                                     0.0s
 => [2/4] COPY requirements.txt /usr/src/app/                                                                                                                              0.5s
 => [3/4] RUN pip install -r requirements.txt                                                                                                                             61.3s
 => [4/4] COPY . /usr/src/app                                                                                                                                              1.3s
 => exporting to image                                                                                                                                                     1.2s
 => => exporting layers                                                                                                                                                    1.2s
 => => writing image sha256:d66a2720e81530029bf1c2cb98fb3aee0cffc2f4ea2aa2a0760a30fb718d7f83                                                                               0.0s
 => => naming to docker.io/library/test                                                                                                                                    0.0s

Now, let us add the experimental header and modify the RUN step to cache the Python packages:

# syntax=docker/dockerfile:experimental

FROM python:3.7
WORKDIR /usr/src/app
COPY requirements.txt /usr/src/app/
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/pip pip install -r requirements.txt
COPY . /usr/src/app

Go ahead and do another build now. It should take the same amount of time. But this time it is caching the Python packages in our new cache mount:

$ docker build -t pythontest .
[+] Building 60.3s (14/14) FINISHED                                                                                                                                             
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                                                                                       0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 120B                                                                                                                                       0.0s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                                                          0.0s
 => => transferring context: 2B                                                                                                                                            0.0s
 => resolve image config for docker.io/docker/dockerfile:experimental                                                                                                      0.5s
 => CACHED docker-image://docker.io/docker/dockerfile:experimental@sha256:9022e911101f01b2854c7a4b2c77f524b998891941da55208e71c0335e6e82c3                                 0.0s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                                                          0.0s
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                                                                                       0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 120B                                                                                                                                       0.0s
 => [internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/python:3.7                                                                                                              0.5s
 => CACHED [1/4] FROM docker.io/library/python:3.7@sha256:6eaf19442c358afc24834a6b17a3728a45c129de7703d8583392a138ecbdb092                                                 0.0s
 => [internal] load build context                                                                                                                                          0.7s
 => => transferring context: 899.99kB                                                                                                                                      0.6s
 => CACHED [internal] helper image for file operations                                                                                                                     0.0s
 => [2/4] COPY requirements.txt /usr/src/app/                                                                                                                              0.6s
 => [3/4] RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/pip pip install -r requirements.txt                                                                                  53.3s
 => [4/4] COPY . /usr/src/app                                                                                                                                              2.6s
 => exporting to image                                                                                                                                                     1.2s
 => => exporting layers                                                                                                                                                    1.2s
 => => writing image sha256:0b035548712c1c9e1c80d4a86169c5c1f9e94437e124ea09e90aea82f45c2afc                                                                               0.0s
 => => naming to docker.io/library/test                                                                                                                                    0.0s

About 60 seconds. Similar to our first build.

Make a small change to the requirements.txt (such as adding a new line between two packages) to force a cache invalidation and run again:

$ docker build -t pythontest .
[+] Building 15.9s (14/14) FINISHED                                                                                                                                             
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                                                                                       0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 120B                                                                                                                                       0.0s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                                                          0.0s
 => => transferring context: 2B                                                                                                                                            0.0s
 => resolve image config for docker.io/docker/dockerfile:experimental                                                                                                      1.1s
 => CACHED docker-image://docker.io/docker/dockerfile:experimental@sha256:9022e911101f01b2854c7a4b2c77f524b998891941da55208e71c0335e6e82c3                                 0.0s
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                                                                                       0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 120B                                                                                                                                       0.0s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                                                          0.0s
 => [internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/python:3.7                                                                                                              0.5s
 => CACHED [1/4] FROM docker.io/library/python:3.7@sha256:6eaf19442c358afc24834a6b17a3728a45c129de7703d8583392a138ecbdb092                                                 0.0s
 => CACHED [internal] helper image for file operations                                                                                                                     0.0s
 => [internal] load build context                                                                                                                                          0.7s
 => => transferring context: 899.99kB                                                                                                                                      0.7s
 => [2/4] COPY requirements.txt /usr/src/app/                                                                                                                              0.6s
 => [3/4] RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/pip pip install -r requirements.txt                                                                                   8.8s
 => [4/4] COPY . /usr/src/app                                                                                                                                              2.1s
 => exporting to image                                                                                                                                                     1.1s
 => => exporting layers                                                                                                                                                    1.1s
 => => writing image sha256:fc84cd45482a70e8de48bfd6489e5421532c2dd02aaa3e1e49a290a3dfb9df7c                                                                               0.0s
 => => naming to docker.io/library/test                                                                                                                                    0.0s

Only about 16 seconds!

We are getting this speedup because we are no longer downloading all the Python packages. They were cached by the package manager (pip in this case) and stored in a cache volume mount. The volume mount is provided to the run step so that pip can reuse our already downloaded packages. This happens outside any Docker layer caching.

The gains should be much better on larger requirements.txt.

Notes:

• This is experimental Dockerfile syntax and should be treated as such. You may not want to build with this in production at the moment.
• The BuildKit stuff doesn't work under Docker Compose or other tools that directly use the Docker API at the moment. There is now support for this in Docker Compose as of 1.25.0. See How do you enable BuildKit with docker-compose?
• There isn't any direct interface for managed the cache at the moment. It is purged when you do a docker system prune -a.

Hopefully, these features will make it into Docker for building and BuildKit will become the default. If / when that happens I will try to update this answer.