Ditch the bloated OS layers. Here’s how to build a Java container that is smaller, faster, and more secure by starting with literally nothing.
In the world of cloud computing, the "thinner" your container, the better. Most developers are used to starting their Dockerfiles with a full operating system like Ubuntu or a language-specific runtime like openjdk:latest. This is easy, but it’s also incredibly wasteful. The video "How Scratch Images Run Java With Zero OS" breaks down a revolutionary approach to containerization: using the scratch image to run a Java application.
What Exactly is a scratch Image?
First, let's clear up a common misconception. scratch isn't a minimal operating system; it's the absence of one. In a Dockerfile, FROM scratch is a reserved instruction that means "start with an empty filesystem" .
A scratch container has:
