Removing multiple running images is broken
Author: apostasieCreated Apr 15, 2025Updated Sep 8, 2026
Labelsbug
Description
When someimage is currently in use by a container, nerdctl rmi -f someimage will create a new unnamed image (name: :) so that we keep a ref on the layers (though this is currently buggy, see #4107).
But then, trying to remove multiple such images will fail, as image creation will bail out (image ":": already exists).
Does anyone have a suggestion on how to address this? Is there a way to instruct containerd to create an image without a name? (eg: currently, passing en empty name will fail on creation)
Steps to reproduce the issue
nerdctl run -d debian sleep inf
nerdctl run -d alpine sleep inf
nerdctl rmi -f alpine
nerdctl rmi -f debianDescribe the results you received and expected
FATA[0000] 1 errors:
image ":": already existsWhat version of nerdctl are you using?
main
Are you using a variant of nerdctl? (e.g., Rancher Desktop)
None
Host information
No response
Source: containerd/nerdctl