# Maintenance of Docker Images

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/maintenance-of-docker-images/76674>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [February 27, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/maintenance-of-docker-images/76674 "2017-02-27T17:39:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dennis-benzinger-sap](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dennis-benzinger-sap/32/15889_2.png) [@dennis-benzinger-sap](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dennis-benzinger-sap)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/maintenance-of-docker-images/76674/1 "2017-02-27T17:39:40Z")

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How often do you update your Docker images (Elasticsearch, Logstash, ...) ?

I see that there are new images for new versions of your software but what about bug fixes in the OpenJDK or Alpine?

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 12:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/maintenance-of-docker-images/76674/2 "2017-02-28T00:37:57Z")

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We use this alpine base image - [https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch-alpine-base/tree/master/build/elasticsearch-alpine-base](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch-alpine-base/tree/master/build/elasticsearch-alpine-base)

I'll see if I can get answers on the rest 🙂

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**Author:** ![jarpy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jarpy/32/51290_2.png) [@jarpy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jarpy)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/maintenance-of-docker-images/76674/3 "2017-02-28T01:33:57Z")

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Currently, we only rebuild earlier releases in an "on-demand" fashion. So if we became aware of a serious vulnerability in the JDK, or something of that ilk, we could easily re-spin the images, but it would require manual intervention.

Given our comprehensive CI setup, it would certainly be feasible to create a system of scheduled builds to refresh the images. It's a balancing act, since one of our goals, and a goal of Docker in general, is to present completely predictable, immutable software images. There's a tension between predictability and currency here. In fact, the main purpose of `elasticsearch-alpine-base` is to allow us to re-spin Elasticsearch images _without_ accidently mutating the underlying operating system.

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**Author:** ![dennis-benzinger-sap](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dennis-benzinger-sap/32/15889_2.png) [@dennis-benzinger-sap](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dennis-benzinger-sap)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/maintenance-of-docker-images/76674/4 "2017-03-02T17:10:48Z")

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"predictable, immutable software images" is definitely the way to go. You shouldn't release updated images with the same name. But you could add an indicator for the "patch level".

But I understand that this is currently not done and the images you release might contain OS or JDK bugs which are fixed upstream.

Thanks for the insight,  
Dennis

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/maintenance-of-docker-images/76674/5 "2017-03-30T17:10:55Z")

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