Image management is tedious

[hannes-ucsc]

It only operates on one page worth of images, there is no immediately apparent way of showing untagged images and there is no indicator of how many images (or pages) there are. This makes it rather tedious to delete stale or unused images.

What's really needed is a image lifecycle policy feature that would let me specify somthing like "automatically delete untagged index images and the images they refer to if all underlying (non-index) images were last pulled more than a month ago"

[sheltongraves]

Hey @hannes-ucsc we really appreciate the feedback! We are working to improve the user experience and incorporate more options to delete images in bulk!

[albertca]

Please, consider adding automatic deletion of images based on criteria. I won't go and delete all old images periodically. Just let me choose a default delete policy that is used for all repositories. I don't fear loosing old images, that's why I have git, and there's a CI system, so if an image has not been pulled for over a year it means it is no longer in use.

[MostefaKamalLala]

@sheltongraves can we go with our own script using a bearer token and this endpoins:

• GET https://hub.docker.com/repository/docker/org/repository/image-management.data?filters=manifest&sortField=last_pulled&sortOrder=asc
• DELETE https://hub.docker.com/v2/namespaces/org/repositories/repository/manifests

{"digests":["sha256:0bsdfsdfdsfsdb58070e5sdfdsfdsfdsfdsfdsfdsfdsfdsfdsfffffffffffffffsdfsdfdsfdsf"],"delete_references":true}

[mathstuf]

more options to delete images in bulk!

Having an accessible API would let folks do their own bulk management rather than having to design UI and UX for it. I'd be fine if the permission to do so is only allowed via a token permission or the like (so that users can't accidentally do it and need to use a dedicated key for it).

[sheltongraves]

Hello! @mathstuf @hannes-ucsc @albertca We now support the OCI endpoint for deletion. You can find the endpoint documented here: https://docs.docker.com/reference/api/registry/latest/

In reference to automated deleted via policies this is something we have on the roadmap and will release in future.

[mathstuf]

Thanks! However, the docs seems a bit confusing to me. First there is:

Only untagged manifests (or those not referenced by other tags or images) can be deleted. If a manifest is still referenced, the registry returns 403 Forbidden.

but then later an image is deleted that has the latest tag? If it is allowing me to delete it because latest is the only tag for it, how does that DELETE request communicate that I believe I am deleting the latest tag?

Also, does this work with skopeo delete or should I file an issue with that project to support this endpoint?

[mathstuf]

Also, does this work with skopeo delete or should I file an issue with that project to support this endpoint?

A quick test shows that skopeo delete works!

[mathstuf]

With that, I think the only thing missing here is the ability to list untagged images.

[LuisAlejandro]

has anyone successfully listed untagged images using https://hub.docker.com/repository/docker/org/repository/image-management.data?filters=manifest&sortField=last_pulled&sortOrder=asc?

[LuisAlejandro]

I made a script https://gist.github.com/LuisAlejandro/e73e7b6435e6c346104950f5587b8d3a#file-delete_stale-md