distribution/docs/garbage-collection.md

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---
description: High level discussion of garbage collection
keywords: registry, garbage, images, tags, repository, distribution
title: Garbage collection
---
As of v2.4.0 a garbage collector command is included within the registry binary.
This document describes what this command does and how and why it should be used.
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## About garbage collection
In the context of the Docker registry, garbage collection is the process of
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removing blobs from the filesystem when they are no longer referenced by a
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manifest. Blobs can include both layers and manifests.
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Registry data can occupy considerable amounts of disk space. In addition,
garbage collection can be a security consideration, when it is desirable to ensure
that certain layers no longer exist on the filesystem.
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## Garbage collection in practice
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Filesystem layers are stored by their content address in the Registry. This
has many advantages, one of which is that data is stored once and referred to by manifests.
See [here](compatibility.md#content-addressable-storage-cas) for more details.
Layers are therefore shared amongst manifests; each manifest maintains a reference
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to the layer. As long as a layer is referenced by one manifest, it cannot be garbage
collected.
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Manifests and layers can be `deleted` with the registry API (refer to the API
documentation [here](spec/api.md#deleting-a-layer) and
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[here](spec/api.md#deleting-an-image) for details). This API removes references
to the target and makes them eligible for garbage collection. It also makes them
unable to be read via the API.
If a layer is deleted it will be removed from the filesystem when garbage collection
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is run. If a manifest is deleted the layers to which it refers will be removed from
the filesystem if no other manifests refers to them.
### Example
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In this example manifest A references two layers: `a` and `b`. Manifest `B` references
layers `a` and `c`. In this state, nothing is eligible for garbage collection:
```
A -----> a <----- B
\--> b |
c <--/
```
Manifest B is deleted via the API:
```
A -----> a B
\--> b
c
```
In this state layer `c` no longer has a reference and is eligible for garbage
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collection. Layer `a` had one reference removed but will not be garbage
collected as it is still referenced by manifest `A`. The blob representing
manifest `B` will also be eligible for garbage collection.
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After garbage collection has been run, manifest `A` and its blobs remain.
```
A -----> a
\--> b
```
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### More details about garbage collection
Garbage collection runs in two phases. First, in the 'mark' phase, the process
scans all the manifests in the registry. From these manifests, it constructs a
set of content address digests. This set is the 'mark set' and denotes the set
of blobs to *not* delete. Secondly, in the 'sweep' phase, the process scans all
the blobs and if a blob's content address digest is not in the mark set, the
process will delete it.
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> **Note**: You should ensure that the registry is in read-only mode or not running at
> all. If you were to upload an image while garbage collection is running, there is the
> risk that the image's layers will be mistakenly deleted, leading to a corrupted image.
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This type of garbage collection is known as stop-the-world garbage collection. In future
registry versions the intention is that garbage collection will be an automated background
action and this manual process will no longer apply.
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## Run garbage collection
Garbage collection can be run as follows
`bin/registry garbage-collect [--dry-run] /path/to/config.yml`
The garbage-collect command accepts a `--dry-run` parameter, which will print the progress
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of the mark and sweep phases without removing any data. Running with a log level of `info`
will give a clear indication of what will and will not be deleted.
The config.yml file should be in the following format:
```
version: 0.1
storage:
filesystem:
rootdirectory: /registry/data
```
_Sample output from a dry run garbage collection with registry log level set to `info`_
```
hello-world
hello-world: marking manifest sha256:fea8895f450959fa676bcc1df0611ea93823a735a01205fd8622846041d0c7cf
hello-world: marking blob sha256:03f4658f8b782e12230c1783426bd3bacce651ce582a4ffb6fbbfa2079428ecb
hello-world: marking blob sha256:a3ed95caeb02ffe68cdd9fd84406680ae93d633cb16422d00e8a7c22955b46d4
hello-world: marking configuration sha256:690ed74de00f99a7d00a98a5ad855ac4febd66412be132438f9b8dbd300a937d
ubuntu
4 blobs marked, 5 blobs eligible for deletion
blob eligible for deletion: sha256:28e09fddaacbfc8a13f82871d9d66141a6ed9ca526cb9ed295ef545ab4559b81
blob eligible for deletion: sha256:7e15ce58ccb2181a8fced7709e9893206f0937cc9543bc0c8178ea1cf4d7e7b5
blob eligible for deletion: sha256:87192bdbe00f8f2a62527f36bb4c7c7f4eaf9307e4b87e8334fb6abec1765bcb
blob eligible for deletion: sha256:b549a9959a664038fc35c155a95742cf12297672ca0ae35735ec027d55bf4e97
blob eligible for deletion: sha256:f251d679a7c61455f06d793e43c06786d7766c88b8c24edf242b2c08e3c3f599
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```