README.md

An example that shows how to build and use an extremely minimal Docker image (~ 5 MB) for a Go web service

tech stack

• Go - a programming language that is fast, uses minimal resources and supports high concurrency
• Docker - container software

pre-requisites

• Go is installed. To verify, run go version
• GOPATH is set (e.g. set to ~/go)
• PATH includes GOPATH/bin
• Docker is installed. To verify, run docker --version

getting started

• clone repo or download zip
• in the project directory, run make cleanrun
• check the image size with docker images | grep pinbar/go-docker-minimal

test the service

• launch the browser and point to the baseurl localhost:8080
  • port can be changed in main.go and Dockerfile
• use the make commands in the Makefile to start or stop the container

notes

• the executable, which is fully statically linked, is built outside the container and then copied onto the image. This allows it to be able to run independently.
• since the base image is scratch, there are known TLS limitations that need a workaround
• the target OS is set to linux but it can be changed in the Makefile