BuildKit: Docker's Hidden Gem That Can Build Almost Anything
Summary
BuildKit is a general-purpose, pluggable build framework behind Docker that can produce not just container images but a variety of artifacts. It uses LLB as an intermediate representation, supports pluggable frontends, content-addressable execution, and various outputs, enabling reproducible CI/CD and non-image builds. The article demonstrates a custom APK-building frontend and argues the engine's power lies in the BuildKit core rather than the Dockerfile frontend.