Diamond is the smallest lightweight Docker container on the planet. With a footprint of 1.215 MB, it is even smaller than busybox:

REPOSITORY      TAG         IMAGE ID        CREATED          SIZE
lgsd/diamond    latest      b87c1c99c103    3 seconds ago    1.215 MB 
busybox         latest      769b9341d937    2 days ago       2.489 MB
ubuntu          12.04       8dbd9e392a96    8 months ago     131.3 MB 

Written as a part of my editorial project: "Docker Essentials" e-book. Made with Buildroot: making Embedded Linux easy, Diamond is a proof of concept "Base Image" to use for embedding self contained small apps on top of lightweight Docker boxes.

$ docker pull lgsd/diamond
$ docker run -i -t lgsd/diamond sh

Rebuild the Diamond by clone the current https://github.com/lgs/diamond source code

$ git clone https://github.com/lgs/diamond.git && cd diamond

Run the tarmaker meta-builder but don't forget to set “target architecture” menu. Select x86_64 when required by the GUI and exit

$ sh -x diamond-build.sh 

Now import with docker import, the new compiled rootfs image

$ docker import - diamond < ./rootfs.tar
$ docker run -i -t diamond sh
/ # uname -a
Linux 6c10f137a0d5 3.11.0-15-generic #25-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 30 17:22:01 UTC 2014 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Copyright (c) 2013-2016 Luca G. Soave