The latest Docker release facilitates the creation of a single Dockerfile that can build multiple helper images with compilers, tools, and tests, and use files from images to produce the final Docker image, as vividly illustrated in the following section.

The Docker platform can build Docker images by reading the instructions from a Dockerfile. A Dockerfile is a text file that contains a list of all the commands needed to build a new Docker image. The syntax and core principle of a Dockerfile is pretty simple and straightforward as follows:

1 Dockerfile -> 1 Docker Image

That is, every Dockerfile creates a Docker image. This principle works just fine for basic use cases, but for creating advanced, secure, and lean Docker images, a single Dockerfile is just not enough.

Multi-stage builds are a new feature incorporated in the latest Docker version...