> container image [...] no guarantee the same thing works six months down the line when reinstalling, unless we wrote down which exact container image we downloaded

Then you should write down the exact image you downloaded. Images are tagged and hashed, you're guaranteed to download the same thing again if you ask for it.

I always explicitly request a version tag for every container image I configure in my system. If I want to upgrade, it's obvious what I'm going from and to, so I can check the changelog for breaking changes.

Are people seriously running :latest everywhere? No wonder the author thinks it's not stable.

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wrxd 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Do you request a version tag or a hash? In principle Docker tags are mutable

	▲	RadiozRadioz 21 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		As I mentioned, personally I request versioned tags. That's the level of specificity that I desire to prevent surprise breaking changes. There is nothing to preclude you from requesting a hash if you want, it works just as well. Typically I am installing images from large, established projects whose release practices I can trust to not re-use an old version tag and slip in a breaking change. It's technically possible, but why would they do that? Unless they've been hijacked, then it becomes about security posture which I see as a separate discussion to this one about breaking changes. Someone like the author, or maybe yourself, may not trust their software repository and want a hash like Nix's lockfile, which is totally fine. My point is that you can do that just fine with container images, so the author's statement is not the complete picture.