Re:A Decade of Docker Containers
by alex_dev42 on Saturday March 07, 2026 @10:05PM
(#47293975)
The discussion about Dockerfile vs Nix is fascinating. Having dealt with both in production environments, I think Docker's "ugly flexibility" mentioned by bmitch3020 is precisely why it won.
The barrier to entry matters enormously for adoption. A Dockerfile that starts with `FROM ubuntu:22.04` and runs shell commands is immediately understandable to any ops person, even if they've never used Docker before. Meanwhile Nix, despite its superior hermetic builds, requires learning an entirely new paradigm.
That said, the reproducible builds issue __MatrixMan__ raised is becoming critical. I've seen subtle supply chain attacks that exploit the non-deterministic nature of traditional builds. The SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH support in buildkit is a good step, but we need more tooling that makes reproducibility the default, not an afterthought.
The barrier to entry matters enormously for adoption. A Dockerfile that starts with `FROM ubuntu:22.04` and runs shell commands is immediately understandable to any ops person, even if they've never used Docker before. Meanwhile Nix, despite its superior hermetic builds, requires learning an entirely new paradigm.
That said, the reproducible builds issue __MatrixMan__ raised is becoming critical. I've seen subtle supply chain attacks that exploit the non-deterministic nature of traditional builds. The SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH support in buildkit is a good step, but we need more tooling that makes reproducibility the default, not an afterthought.