A Dockerfile is a text configuration file containing instructions for building a Docker image. It specifies infrastructure setup, dependencies, build commands, environment variables, mounted volumes, and exposed ports. The resulting image can instantiate repeatable Docker containers across hosts. section 12.1.2 section 12.6
A practical Dockerfile workflow proceeds through these stages:
- Reduce production size with a multistage build: compile in a Rust environment, then copy only the self-contained binary into a new base image. section 12.6
Containerizing a Rust web service
A simple Actix Web service is copied into a Rust image and built with `cargo build --release`. The basic image runs `./target/release/docker-rust`, serves ports on 8080, and reaches 1.32 GB because it retains the compiler and intermediate artifacts. A production-oriented Dockerfile installs musl tooling, builds for `x86_64-unknown-linux-musl`, and starts the resulting static `iter5` binary. section 12.2.2
Use the Docker overview to trace the relationship between Dockerfiles, images, and running containers. section 12.1.2
