'apt-get clean' doesn't clear out /var/lib/apt/lists. It removes cached downloaded debs from /var/cacpt/apt but you'll still have hundreds of MiB of package lists on your system after running it.

Yes, but apt-get clean is still redundant [ed: because the upstream Debian/Ubuntu images automatically runs apt-clean via how dpkg/apt is configured - and your image should inherit this behavior]. Personally I'm not a fan of deleting random files like man pages and documentation - so instead of:

  RUN apt-get update -qq && \
    apt-get install -y build-essential libvips && \
    apt-get clean && \
    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* /usr/share/doc /usr/share/man

I'd do:

  RUN apt-get update -qq && \
    apt-get install -y build-essential libvips && \
    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

Not a fan of violently modifying the system outside of the package manager either.

rm -rf isn't configuration management, it's system entropy increasing leaving users scrambling to reinstall the world.

If people don't want docs, then distro vendors should package them separately and make them recommended packages.

Indeed. If you want a small image, there's "slim" and "alpine" variants.

As I mentioned above, I recommend avoiding Ubuntu because it violates the principle of dev - prod parity. For any significant scale, Ubuntu will be left in the dust. Don't rely on system packages, build your own stream of minimal vendored (/opt/company) dependencies and keep them current because defaults are always old and don't consistently apply necessary patches for bugfixes and functionality.

https://quay.io/repository/centos/centos

Please explain

"I recommend avoiding Ubuntu because it violates the principle of dev - prod parity."

What exactly is the problem? Would you please like to provide sources to this issue / some explanation / any helpful content? THANKS!

Yeap. Various docker images are built with pkg mgmt file install exclusions and rm -rf.

It's good to have a slim script but also to have an unslim when you need manpages or locales.