The container pre-installs all dependencies to eliminate the 30-45 minute setup time for Linux builds, reducing build times from 45 minutes to 5-10 minutes.

Structure

docker/quarto-build/
├── Dockerfile          # Container definition
├── README.md          # This file
└── .dockerignore      # Files to exclude from build

Container Contents

Base: Ubuntu 22.04
TeX Live: Full distribution (texlive-full)
R: R-base with all required packages
Python: Python 3.13 with all requirements
Quarto: Version 1.7.31
Tools: Inkscape, Ghostscript, fonts
Dependencies: All from tools/dependencies/

Build Process

The container is built and tested via GitHub Actions:

# Trigger container build
gh workflow run build-container.yml

Usage

The container is used in the containerized build workflow:

container:
  image: ghcr.io/harvard-edge/cs249r_book/quarto-build:latest
  options: --user root

Testing

The container build includes 17 comprehensive tests:

Quarto functionality
Python packages (all from requirements.txt)
R packages (all from install_packages.R)
TeX Live and LaTeX engines
Inkscape SVG to PDF conversion
Ghostscript PDF compression
Fonts and graphics libraries
Quarto render test
TikZ compilation test
System resources check
Network connectivity
Book structure compatibility
Quarto configuration files
Dependencies files accessibility
Quarto check (same as workflow)
Actual build process simulation
Memory and disk space verification

Registry

Registry: GitHub Container Registry (ghcr.io)
Image: ghcr.io/harvard-edge/cs249r_book/quarto-build
Tags: latest, main, dev, branch-specific tags
Size: ~2-3GB (includes TeX Live, R, Python packages)

Performance

The container reduces build times significantly:

Traditional Linux build: 45 minutes (including dependency installation)
Containerized build: 5-10 minutes (dependencies pre-installed)
Container size: ~2-3GB (optimized with multi-layer cleanup)
Build phases: 11 optimized phases with progress tracking

Recent Improvements (2025)

Fixed dependency path issues after repository restructuring
Improved error handling and progress tracking
Optimized TeX Live package installation
Enhanced cleanup procedures for smaller image size
Added comprehensive testing (17 test scenarios)
Fixed PATH environment variables for all tools

Build Phases

System Dependencies - Core Ubuntu packages and libraries
Inkscape Installation - SVG to PDF conversion capability
Quarto Installation - Latest Quarto CLI (v1.7.31)
TeX Live Installation - Complete LaTeX distribution
Ghostscript Installation - PDF processing capabilities
R Installation - R base and development packages
Python Installation - Python 3 with pip
Python Packages - All production requirements
R Packages - All required R libraries
R Package Verification - Validation of successful installation
Comprehensive Cleanup - Size optimization and cache clearing

Traditional build: 45 minutes
Containerized build: 5-10 minutes
Improvement: 80-90% time reduction