github.com/jogo/docker@v1.7.0-rc1/docs/sources/docker-hub/official_repos.md (about) 1 page_title: Official Repositories on Docker Hub 2 page_description: Guidelines for Official Repositories on Docker Hub 3 page_keywords: Docker, docker, registry, accounts, plans, Dockerfile, Docker Hub, docs, official, image, documentation 4 5 # Official Repositories on Docker Hub 6 7 The Docker [Official Repositories](http://registry.hub.docker.com/official) are 8 a curated set of Docker repositories that are promoted on Docker Hub. They are 9 designed to: 10 11 * Provide essential base OS repositories (for example, 12 [`ubuntu`](https://registry.hub.docker.com/_/ubuntu/), 13 [`centos`](https://registry.hub.docker.com/_/centos/)) that serve as the 14 starting point for the majority of users. 15 16 * Provide drop-in solutions for popular programming language runtimes, data 17 stores, and other services, similar to what a Platform-as-a-Service (PAAS) 18 would offer. 19 20 * Exemplify [`Dockerfile` best practices](/articles/dockerfile_best-practices) 21 and provide clear documentation to serve as a reference for other `Dockerfile` 22 authors. 23 24 * Ensure that security updates are applied in a timely manner. This is 25 particularly important as many Official Repositories are some of the most 26 popular on Docker Hub. 27 28 * Provide a channel for software vendors to redistribute up-to-date and 29 supported versions of their products. Organization accounts on Docker Hub can 30 also serve this purpose, without the careful review or restrictions on what 31 can be published. 32 33 Docker, Inc. sponsors a dedicated team that is responsible for reviewing and 34 publishing all Official Repositories content. This team works in collaboration 35 with upstream software maintainers, security experts, and the broader Docker 36 community. 37 38 While it is preferrable to have upstream software authors maintaining their 39 corresponding Official Repositories, this is not a strict requirement. Creating 40 and maintaining images for Official Repositories is a public process. It takes 41 place openly on GitHub where participation is encouraged. Anyone can provide 42 feedback, contribute code, suggest process changes, or even propose a new 43 Official Repository. 44 45 ## Should I use Official Repositories? 46 47 New Docker users are encouraged to use the Official Repositories in their 48 projects. These repositories have clear documentation, promote best practices, 49 and are designed for the most common use cases. Advanced users are encouraged to 50 review the Official Repositories as part of their `Dockerfile` learning process. 51 52 A common rationale for diverging from Official Repositories is to optimize for 53 image size. For instance, many of the programming language stack images contain 54 a complete build toolchain to support installation of modules that depend on 55 optimized code. An advanced user could build a custom image with just the 56 necessary pre-compiled libraries to save space. 57 58 A number of language stacks such as 59 [`python`](https://registry.hub.docker.com/_/python/) and 60 [`ruby`](https://registry.hub.docker.com/_/ruby/) have `-slim` tag variants 61 designed to fill the need for optimization. Even when these "slim" variants are 62 insufficient, it is still recommended to inherit from an Official Repository 63 base OS image to leverage the ongoing maintenance work, rather than duplicating 64 these efforts. 65 66 ## How can I get involved? 67 68 All Official Repositories contain a **User Feedback** section in their 69 documentation which covers the details for that specific repository. In most 70 cases, the GitHub repository which contains the Dockerfiles for an Official 71 Repository also has an active issue tracker. General feedback and support 72 questions should be directed to `#docker-library` on Freenode IRC. 73 74 ## How do I create a new Official Repository? 75 76 From a high level, an Official Repository starts out as a proposal in the form 77 of a set of GitHub pull requests. You'll find detailed and objective proposal 78 requirements in the following GitHub repositories: 79 80 * [docker-library/official-images](https://github.com/docker-library/official-images) 81 82 * [docker-library/docs](https://github.com/docker-library/docs) 83 84 The Official Repositories team, with help from community contributors, formally 85 review each proposal and provide feedback to the author. This initial review 86 process may require a bit of back and forth before the proposal is accepted. 87 88 There are also subjective considerations during the review process. These 89 subjective concerns boil down to the basic question: "is this image generally 90 useful?" For example, the [`python`](https://registry.hub.docker.com/_/python/) 91 Official Repository is "generally useful" to the large Python developer 92 community, whereas an obscure text adventure game written in Python last week is 93 not. 94 95 When a new proposal is accepted, the author becomes responsibile for keeping 96 their images up-to-date and responding to user feedback. The Official 97 Repositories team becomes responsibile for publishing the images and 98 documentation on Docker Hub. Updates to the Official Repository follow the same 99 pull request process, though with less review. The Official Repositories team 100 ultimately acts as a gatekeeper for all changes, which helps mitigate the risk 101 of quality and security issues from being introduced. 102 103 > **Note**: If you are interested in proposing an Official Repository, but would 104 > like to discuss it with Docker, Inc. privately first, please send your 105 > inquiries to partners@docker.com. There is no fast-track or pay-for-status 106 > option.