DockerBIO: web application for efficient use of bioinformatics Docker images

摘要

Background and ObjectiveDocker is a light containerization program that shows almost the same performance as a local environment. Recently, many bioinformatics tools have been distributed as Docker images that include complex settings such as libraries, configurations, and data if needed, as well as the actual tools. Users can simply download and run them without making the effort to compile and configure them, and can obtain reproducible results. In spite of these advantages, several problems remain. First, there is a lack of clear standards for distribution of Docker images, and the Docker Hub often provides multiple images with the same objective but different uses. For these reasons, it can be difficult for users to learn how to select and use them. Second, Docker images are often not suitable as a component of a pipeline, because many of them include big data. Moreover, a group of users can have difficulties when sharing a pipeline composed of Docker images. Users of a group may modify scripts or use different versions of the data, which causes inconsistent results.