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Debian images

Debian images provide a familiar glibc-based base for Ansible automation. They are useful when you want broad package availability, predictable apt behavior, and a general-purpose Linux userspace.

The project publishes both standard Debian images and slim variants for selected releases.

Available Debian tags

Base image Supported tags
Debian Trixie 2.21-debian-trixie, 2.20-debian-trixie, 2.19-debian-trixie, 2.18-debian-trixie
Debian Trixie Slim 2.21-debian-trixie-slim, 2.20-debian-trixie-slim, 2.19-debian-trixie-slim, 2.18-debian-trixie-slim
Debian Bookworm 2.19-debian-bookworm, 2.18-debian-bookworm
Debian Bookworm Slim 2.19-debian-bookworm-slim, 2.18-debian-bookworm-slim

See the complete supported tag matrix for all operating systems.

Trixie and Bookworm coverage

Debian Trixie carries the newer supported Ansible streams. Debian Bookworm remains available for Ansible 2.18 through 2.19.

Pull a Debian image

docker pull willhallonline/ansible:2.21-debian-trixie

docker pull willhallonline/ansible:2.21-debian-trixie-slim

docker pull willhallonline/ansible:2.19-debian-bookworm

docker pull willhallonline/ansible:2.19-debian-bookworm-slim

Run Ansible from a Debian image

docker run --rm -it   -v "$PWD:/work"   -w /work   willhallonline/ansible:2.21-debian-trixie   ansible-playbook -i inventory site.yml

Run ad hoc commands the same way:

docker run --rm -it   -v "$PWD:/work"   -w /work   willhallonline/ansible:2.21-debian-trixie   ansible all -i inventory -m ping

Characteristics

Property Debian images
Package manager apt
C library glibc
Variants Standard and slim
Best fit General CI, glibc compatibility, broad package installs
Watch point Larger than Alpine, especially non-slim variants

Debian is a strong default when you expect to install extra system packages in a custom image. It also matches many examples and upstream installation guides for third-party CLIs.

Standard versus slim

The standard Debian tags use the normal Debian base image for that release. The slim tags use Debian slim bases and are useful when you want a smaller glibc image but still prefer apt and Debian packaging.

Choose When
Standard You value compatibility and fewer surprises over image size
Slim You want a smaller Debian image and know which packages your project needs

Start standard, optimize later

If you are debugging dependency issues, begin with the standard Debian tag. Move to the slim tag once you know your package set.

What's included

Each Debian image includes:

  • ansible-core from PyPI;
  • the ansible community package from PyPI;
  • ansible-lint from PyPI;
  • Python; and
  • the tooling needed to run Ansible against remote hosts.

The supporting tooling is intended for control-node tasks such as SSH-based connections, Git checkouts, and common Ansible runtime needs. See what's inside for more detail.

When to choose Debian

Choose Debian when:

  • you need a glibc-based image;
  • your project installs packages with apt;
  • third-party documentation assumes Debian or Ubuntu;
  • you want normal and slim options for the same release; or
  • you prefer a conservative general-purpose base.

Choose another family when:

  • smallest possible image size is the priority, where Alpine may be better;
  • your organization standardizes on Ubuntu runner images;
  • you need Enterprise Linux compatibility, where Rocky Linux may be better; or
  • you require an Ansible stream not available for your chosen Debian release.

Extending Debian images

Use apt-get in non-interactive Dockerfile steps:

FROM willhallonline/ansible:2.21-debian-trixie

RUN apt-get update     && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends jq     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

Use slim tags when the extra package set is known:

FROM willhallonline/ansible:2.21-debian-trixie-slim

RUN apt-get update     && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ca-certificates curl     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

See extending images for more patterns.

Dockerfiles

The Debian Dockerfiles are in the upstream repository under ansible-core/: