Apply base-image security updates to a buildpacks-built app image in seconds with pack rebase instead of a full rebuild.
domain: buildpacks.io · 4 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Concept: 'Rebase allows app developers or operators to rapidly update an app image when its runtime base image has changed... By using image layer rebasing, this command avoids the need to fully rebuild the app' (https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-app-developers/concepts/rebase/).
Basic usage: `pack rebase my-app:my-tag` — swaps the app image's run-image (base) layers for the latest version of the run image it was built against.
Publish the rebased image directly to a registry with `pack rebase myapp:tag --publish` — 'The previous application image must also reside in the registry.' The docs note --publish 'is optimal when using a registry in comparison to the docker daemon' (https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-platform-operators/how-to/integrate-ci/pack/cli/pack_rebase/).
Optional flags: `--run-image <image>` to rebase onto a specific run image; `--previous-image <ref>` to rebase a specific tag/digest while writing the result to a different <image-name> (avoids overwriting the original); `--pull-policy always|never|if-not-present` (default always); `--force` to skip target validation (Platform API >= 0.12); `--insecure-registry` (API >= 0.13).
Known gotchas
Rebase only swaps run-image (OS) layers — it does NOT re-run buildpacks or pick up new app dependencies. It is strictly a fast path for base-image security patching, not a rebuild replacement.
Without --force, rebase performs target validation before swapping the base layers; --force (Platform API >= 0.12) skips it.
When rebasing with --publish, the original app image must already reside in the registry (same daemon-vs-registry constraint as pack build --publish).
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