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The Minimus gallery of images uses the following system to organize its images:
  • Images - Refers to the image type, as in Nginx, Golang, PHP, Redis, etc.
  • Image lines - Refers to the release branch. That is the upstream’s maintained release lines. Most projects maintain at least 2 lines, often named. For example (current as of March 2025):
    • Nginx has 2 release lines: mainline and stable- 1.27 and 1.26 (ref).
    • MySQL has 3 release lines: innovation (9.2), long term support lts (8.4), and the previous LTS line - 8.0 (ref).
    • Postgres maintains 5 release lines: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 (ref). They are not named.
    • Python maintains 2 active support lines: 3.13 and 3.12 (ref ). The lines are not named.
Minimus maintains the same release lines as are actively supported by their upstream projects. A release line that is being actively supported by the upstream project means that it actively receives bug reports and security issues and puts out version updates.
  • Image versions - Refers to the version number or release number within the image line.
    • Usually, the image version follows semantic versioning conventions in X.Y.Z format (ref). For example, for the Nginx image, the latest mainline version is 1.27.4 and the latest stable line version is 1.26.3 (as determined on Feb 20, 2025).
    • Minimus follows the release schedule of the upstream projects. Every time a new version is released, Minimus will cut an image of the new version. The version numbers are identical to the upstream project and will be shown in the relevant image line in the Minimus gallery.

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Selecting the right image line

If you’re not already committed to a particular image version, you may be asking yourself which image line you should use? Minimus can help you decide based on your requirements:
  • As a general recommendation, unless you have constraints such as app compatibility issues, you should always use the latest version. This ensures that you are using the most up-to-date version and can benefit from security updates more completely.
  • If your testing cycle is relatively longer, you may be forced to use a previous version line. You should still opt for the most recent version within the line to benefit from daily security updates.
  • If you have constraints that require you to use an older image version, note that the version will not receive security updates. Minimus images are minimal and hardened from the start and so accumulate vulnerabilities more slowly, thereby staying more secure for a relatively longer period of time.
    • Visit the Minimus gallery to view a current vulnerability report for any image version. The report provides an up-to-date status on the vulnerabilities detected in the version.
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