recontainerized

Recontainerized is a term used to describe the act of taking a containerized application or environment and converting it into a new container image. It refers to recreating or updating the container’s image to reflect changes in the software stack, dependencies, or runtime requirements, or to adapt the deployment to a different container runtime or orchestration platform. The concept is common in software deployment, migration, and packaging work where a stable, portable image is desired.

Methods commonly involved in recontainerization include creating an image from a running container via a commit operation, exporting a container’s filesystem and rebuilding an image from that export, or rebuilding from a declarative build recipe such as a Dockerfile or an OCI-compatible build script. Tools used in modern workflows include buildah, docker, podman, and other OCI-compliant utilities that manage images and layers. Recontainerization may also involve trimming unnecessary layers, updating base images, or adding or removing configuration and metadata to improve security and portability.

Key considerations include reproducibility, provenance, and drift between the original environment and the new image. Potential downsides include exposure of sensitive data from a running container, licensing or attribution concerns, and the overhead of maintaining separate images. Best practices emphasize minimal, declarative builds, clear versioning, and thorough testing to ensure that the recontainerized image preserves intended behavior.

Related concepts include container images, Dockerfile, OCI image format, and container runtimes.