At work, I setup the build system to use Apache Archiva to cache Java dependencies, along with other services like apt-cacher, devpi, and squid, for Debian, Pyt

At work, I setup the build system to use Apache Archiva to cache Java dependencies, along with other services like apt-cacher, devpi, and squid, for Debian, Python, and general HTTP caching, respectively. We build all of our images atop the "bitnami/minideb" base, and split the Dockerfiles into "partials" that source a dynamic parent image via a build argument. For example, the partial that sets up Debian package and HTTP caching: ARG base FROM ${base} ARG apt_cacher_host ARG http_proxy ARG https_proxy ARG no_proxy ENV HTTP_PROXY="${http_proxy}" ENV HTTPS_PROXY="${https_proxy}" ENV NO_PROXY="${no_proxy}" ENV http_proxy="${http_proxy}" ENV https_proxy="${https_proxy}" ENV no_proxy="${no_proxy}" RUN set -ex; \ if [ ! -z "${apt_cacher_host}" ]; then \ echo "Acquire::http::Proxy \"${apt_cacher_host}\";Acquire::https::Proxy \"false\";" >/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01proxy; \ fi; \ For Java, another partial creates a Maven settings file with the Apache Archiva URL: ARG base FROM ${base} ARG maven_mirror COPY devops/image-partials/java-artifacts/settings.xml /tmp/settings.xml RUN set -ex; \ env; \ if [ ! -z "${maven_mirror}" ]; then \ sed -r "s!%%MAVEN_MIRROR%%!${maven_mirror}!g;" /tmp/settings.xml >/usr/share/maven/conf/settings.xml; \ fi; The important part of settings.xml is this section: <mirrors> <mirror> <id>archiva.default</id> <url>%%MAVEN_MIRROR%%</url> <mirrorOf>external:*</mirrorOf> </mirror> </mirrors> And voila, Maven will go through Archiva for all its dependencies, which are transparently cached so that subsequent builds don't need to re-download everything again.