Docker

The following table describe the tags are available on Docker Hub fluent/fluent-bit repository:

It’s strongly suggested that you always use the latest image of Fluent Bit.

Our x86_64 stable image is based in focusing on security containing just the Fluent Bit binary and minimal system libraries and basic configuration. Optionally, we provide debug images for x86_64 which contains Busybox that can be used to troubleshoot or testing purposes.

For every architecture we build the layers using the following base images:

Download the last stable image from 1.4 series:

Once the image is in place, now run the following (useless) test which makes Fluent Bit measure CPU usage by the container:

Alpine Linux uses Musl C library instead of Glibc. Musl is not fully compatible with Glibc which generated many issues in the following areas when used with Fluent Bit:

• Memory Allocator: to run Fluent Bit properly in high-load environments, we use Jemalloc as a default memory allocator which reduce fragmentation and provides better performance for our needs. Jemalloc cannot run smoothly with Musl and requires extra work.
• Alpine Linux Musl functions bootstrap have a compatibility issue when loading Golang shared libraries, this generate problems when trying to load Golang output plugins in Fluent Bit.
• Maintainers preference in terms of base image due to security and maintenance reasons are Distroless and Debian.

Where ‘latest’ Tag points to ?

Our Docker containers images are deployed thousands of times per day, we take security and stability very seriously.

The latest tag most of the time points to the latest stable image. When we release a major update to Fluent Bit like for example from v1.3.x to v1.4.0, we don’t move latest tag until 2 weeks after the release. That give us extra time to verify with our community that everything works as expected.