This document introduces Cloud Native Buildpacks as an alternative to Dockerfiles for building container images. It discusses the shortcomings of Dockerfiles, such as being non-application aware, lacking composability, and mixing operational and developer concerns. Cloud Native Buildpacks provide a higher level abstraction that allows developers to focus on their code while buildpacks handle dependencies and configuration. Buildpacks examine source code and formulate a build plan. The buildpack lifecycle then assembles artifacts into a final image. Buildpacks provide advantages like separation of concerns, faster incremental builds, and automated dependency updates.
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