image has dependent child images 🐳 Docker

conflict: unable to delete image (cannot be forced) - image has dependent child images

Other images were built on top of this one, so Docker won’t delete it by ID.

Seen on: Docker

Meaning

Images share layers. If you built myapp FROM a local base image, the base can’t be removed while myapp exists. Delete the children first, or remove by tag instead of by ID.

Common causes

  • Other local images use this image as a parent layer
  • Deleting by image ID when several tags point to it

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Find children: docker image ls --filter since=<id>
  2. Remove child images first
  3. Use docker image prune -a to remove all unused images

Detailed fix by platform

Docker

  1. bash
    docker image ls --filter since=9b1e0c1d2e3f
docker image prune -a

How to diagnose

  1. Children — Images created after it that use it
  2. Tags — docker images | grep <id>

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