Arch Linux Now Has a Bit-for-Bit Reproducible Docker Image
by maxloh on 4/23/2026, 1:59:08 AM
https://antiz.fr/blog/archlinux-now-has-a-reproducible-docker-image/
Comments
by: dev_l1x_be
All docker containers should have been like that. apt-get update in a docker build step is an anti pattern.
4/23/2026, 8:05:57 AM
by: kippinsula
reproducible images are one of those features where the payoff is mostly emotional until the day it isn't. we had an incident where two supposedly identical images on two machines had a three byte delta in a timestamp and it cost us an afternoon to bisect from the wrong end. boring win, but a real one.
4/23/2026, 8:02:45 AM
by: azangru
A totally unrelated comment; but — there is an animation on that page that moves practically everything on the page about 20 pixels down over the course of 1 second.<p>I thought that would completely trash the Cumulative Layout Shift core web vital. Because, hey! the layout is shifting in front of my very eyes. But no, the CLS on the page is 0.<p>Is CLS a misleading metric then?
4/23/2026, 9:49:34 AM
by: aa-jv
This is a really interesting accomplishment - I am also working heavily on reproducible builds for my firmware projects, and .. lo and behold .. the package manager key administrivia is the final bone to be broken.<p>I wonder if Arch leading the way on this will prompt other distro's to attempt the same feat. Reproducible builds are important for certification, security and safety-critical applications .. it'd be great to see Linux distros become more conformant to this method.
4/23/2026, 8:05:54 AM
by: fragmede
and they said compilers are deterministic...<p>This is a huge accomplishment! But it wouldn't be so huge if compilers were trivially deterministic. It took 5 decades of development for compilers to get here. I'm sure ChatGPT in 2073 is going to be more deterministic than it was in 2023.
4/23/2026, 8:25:25 AM