--- title: How to build Docker images with Gradle description: In this blog I will show you how to build Docker images from a Gradle task. A number of Docker plugins have been created for Gradle. I discuss the one from Benjamin Muschko which we use to build the scheduler image for Mesos Elasticsearch. image: http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2668666/All-InOne-2016/Image/bg-img.jpg --- Check out our **[Cloud Native Services](https://www.container-solutions.com/services) **and** **book a call with one of our experts today!  [![Container Solutions](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hubfs/CS_blog/logo-main.svg "Container Solutions")](http://container-solutions.com) - share: - [**](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.container-solutions.com%2Fhow-to-build-docker-images-with-gradle) - [**](https://www.twitter.com/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.container-solutions.com%2Fhow-to-build-docker-images-with-gradle) - [**](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://blog.container-solutions.com/how-to-build-docker-images-with-gradle) - [**](https://blog.container-solutions.com/how-to-build-docker-images-with-gradle#) [![](http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2668666/All-InOne-2016/Image/bg-img.jpg) ](https://blog.container-solutions.com/how-to-build-docker-images-with-gradle) [Docker](https://blog.container-solutions.com/tag/docker), [Microservices](https://blog.container-solutions.com/tag/microservices) # How to build Docker images with Gradle [Frank Scholten](https://blog.container-solutions.com/author/frank-scholten) ![Frank Scholten](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hubfs/frank.jpg) June 5, 2015 4 minutes Read [![How to build Docker images with Gradle - Gradle logo](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/gradle1-1.jpeg?width=100&name=gradle1-1.jpeg)](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/gradle1-1.jpeg) In this blog I will show you how to build Docker images from a Gradle task. A number of Docker plugins have been created for Gradle. I discuss the one from [Benjamin Muschko](https://github.com/bmuschko/gradle-docker-plugin) which we use to build the scheduler image for [Mesos Elasticsearch](https://github.com/mesos/elasticsearch). This plugin is quite versatile because it provides Gradle tasks for almost every Docker CLI command. ### Docker images used by Mesos Elasticsearch In Mesos Elasticsearch we build two Docker images. The first image, [mesos/elasticsearch-scheduler](https://registry.hub.docker.com/u/mesos/elasticsearch-scheduler/) is an image which contains the executable jar of the Elasticsearch scheduler. By creating an image for it we can deploy it via Marathon. The second image, [mesos/elasticsearch-cloud-mesos](https://registry.hub.docker.com/u/mesos/elasticsearch-cloud-mesos/) contains elasticsearch and the cloud-mesos plugin and it is used by containers launched by the scheduler. In this blog I will show how to build these containers with Gradle. If you want to know more about Mesos Elasticsearch itself, checkout the [Mesos Elasticsearch Github page](https://github.com/mesos/elasticsearch). The project is sponsored by [Cisco Cloud Services](https://github.com/CiscoCloud). ### Enabling the Docker plugin in Gradle Now let's talk about Gradle. To enable [@bmuschko](https://github.com/mesos/elasticsearch)'s Docker plugin add the following line to the top of *build.gradle*. ``` apply plugin: 'com.bmuschko.docker-remote-api' ``` Then you also have to add the repository where Gradle can download the plugin from. ``` buildscript { repositories { jcenter() } dependencies { classpath 'com.bmuschko:gradle-docker-plugin:2.2' } } ``` ### Docker Gradle tasks Below I will explain how to build the *mesos/elasticsearch-scheduler* image. Have a look at the snippet from *scheduler/build.gradle*. I removed the *dependencies* and *buildscript* definitions as they are not relevant here. ``` jar { baseName = "elasticsearch-mesos-scheduler" from { configurations.compile.collect { it.isDirectory() ? it : zipTree(it) } } manifest { attributes 'Main-Class': 'org.apache.mesos.elasticsearch.scheduler.ElasticsearchScheduler' } } task copyJar(type: Copy) { dependsOn 'jar' from "build/libs/elasticsearch-mesos-scheduler-${project.version}.jar" into 'build/docker' rename { String fileName -> fileName.replace("-${project.version}", "") } } task buildDockerImage(type: DockerBuildImage) { dependsOn copyJar if (System.env.DOCKER_HOST) { url = "$System.env.DOCKER_HOST".replace("tcp","https") if (System.env.DOCKER_CERT_PATH) { certPath = new File(System.env.DOCKER_CERT_PATH) } } else { url = 'unix:///var/run/docker.sock' } inputDir = file('.') tag = 'mesos/elasticsearch-scheduler' } build.dependsOn buildDockerImage build.dependsOn copyJar ``` There are 3 tasks. The first task, *jar*, builds the executable scheduler jar including it's dependencies. Before we can build the Docker image we have to copy this jar to the *build/docker* folder. This is done by the second task: *copy*. The version is stripped so that the Dockerfile CMD is always java -jar elasticsearch-mesos-scheduler.jar . Finally in the third task we run the docker task. It has the type *DockerBuildImage* and it has a dependency on the *copy* task, sets the inputDir and connect either to DOCKER_HOST or uses the socket. ***Update 01-07-2016 - Make sure you use the correct Docker context when you have multiple Docker Machines. Run 'eval "$(docker-machine env)'. Kudos to Abhijit Sarkar for pointing this out in the comment below.*** As you can see building Docker images with Gradle is relatively straightforward. For more information on other Docker tasks, checkout the other [Docker Gradle task types](https://github.com/bmuschko/gradle-docker-plugin/tree/master/src/main/groovy/com/bmuschko/gradle/docker/tasks) [### What is Strategy? ](https://blog.container-solutions.com/what-is-strategy) [![prev-arrow](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3842749/Wow%202019/Images/left-arrow.png) Previous article](https://blog.container-solutions.com/what-is-strategy) [ Next article ![next-arrow](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3842749/Wow%202019/Images/right-arrow.png) ](https://blog.container-solutions.com/puppet-in-docker) [ ### Puppet in Docker ](https://blog.container-solutions.com/puppet-in-docker) Comments Leave your Comment ![cs-logo-white](https://blog.container-solutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/cs-logo-white.png?width=150&height=61&name=cs-logo-white.png "cs-logo-white") #### **Talk to sales** [info@container-solutions.com](mailto:info@container-Solutions.com) #### Stay In Touch - [**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/container-solutions/) - [**](https://twitter.com/containersoluti) © 2024 Container Solutions