Supported tags and respective `Dockerfile` links

For more information about this image and its history, please see the relevant manifest file (library/java) in the docker-library/official-images GitHub repo.

What is Java?

Java is a concurrent, class-based, object-oriented language specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is intended to allow application developers to "write once, run anywhere", meaning that code that runs on one platform does not need to be recompiled to run on another.

Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_(programming_language)

How to use this image

Start a Java instance in your app

The most straightforward way to use this image is to use a Java container as both the build and runtime environment. In your Dockerfile, writing something along the lines of the following will compile and run your project:

FROM java:7
COPY . /usr/src/myapp
WORKDIR /usr/src/myapp
RUN javac Main.java
CMD ["java", "Main"]

You can then run and build the Docker image:

docker build -t my-java-app .
docker run -it --rm --name my-running-app my-java-app

Compile your app inside the Docker container

There may be occasions where it is not appropriate to run your app inside a container. To compile, but not run your app inside the Docker instance, you can write something like:

docker run --rm -v "$PWD":/usr/src/myapp -w /usr/src/myapp java:7 javac Main.java

This will add your current directory as a volume to the container, set the working directory to the volume, and run the command javac Main.java which will tell Java to compile the code in Main.java and output the Java class file to Main.class.

Why is this only OpenJDK/OpenJRE?

As all of the major upstream Linux distributions are unwilling to redistribute Oracle Java in their own distribution channels, we have chosen to follow them. See references below on how each distribution does not distribute Oracle Java.

Ubuntu stopped distributing it in the sun-java6 package when Oracle retired the "Operating System Distributor License for Java" (lists.ubuntu.com).
Debian requires users to download the Java tar manually from oracle.com and then use java-package to install it (wiki.debian.net).
The webupd8 PPA for Ubuntu and Debian requires the user to accept the Oracle license in order for their software to download and install Oracle java (webupd8.org).
Gentoo has a fetch-restriction that requires the user to go to the Oracle website to download the Java tar manually which inclues accepting the license (wiki.gentoo.org).
CentOS requires users to go and download the rpm provided by Oracle at java.com and thus accept the Oracle license (wiki.centos.org).
RedHat provides instructions to add a repo that is maintained by Oracle (access.redhat.com).

License

View license information for the software contained in this image.

Supported Docker versions

This image is officially supported on Docker version 1.6.2.

Support for older versions (down to 1.0) is provided on a best-effort basis.

Docker, Inc is the company behind the open source Docker platform and the growing Docker ecosystem of contributors, partners and adopters revolutionizing the way distributed applications are built, shipped, and run.

Website: docker.com

Docker Registery: Java Official Docker Image

Copyright (c) 2014-2015 Docker, Inc.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.